Melt My Heart 2
by White Jem
Summary: ElsaxFOC-Sequel to 'Melt My Heart!Elsa and Kaya have finally come to terms with their feelings for one another and are taking things one day at a time. But as Anna and Kristoff's long-anticipated nuptials approach, Elsa and Anna stumble upon the journal of their long-lost mother...What will this mean for the happy couple? OUAT crossover, follows episode 1-11 of the fourth season!
1. Tale of Two Sisters: Part I

A Tale of Two Sisters: Part I

 _A long time ago..._

 _The storm raged savagely around the Arendellian ship. The captain struggled to maintain control of the vessel, fierce gales of wind tearing relentlessly at the sails._

 _Seawater came in downpours into the hull of the ship, soaking everyone and everything in its path with the brine._

 _Below deck, one woman searched frantically for a quill and a relatively dry piece of parchment that would enable her to finally impart the truth to her two daughters._

 _Her husband suddenly appeared in the doorway, yelling for her to hear over the storm._

" _What are you doing?!"_

 _The queen was strangely calm, considering a powerful cloudburst was attempting to ravage the ship she stood upon._

" _I have to finish this!"_

" _My dear, no." Her king said as he held on to the rope above their heads, making his way slowly but surely to her. "The vessel- it's going down. We have to abandon ship!"_

 _His wife all but ignored his plea, and continued to hurriedly write. "They have to know."_

 _As she finished her confession, she hastily wrapped the note up in her hand and turned to her husband._

" _We might not make it home, but this could!"_

 _The king stared at her intensely, solemnly understanding her resolve to do attempt to have their daughters know the truth about their voyage._

 _Swiftly placing the letter in an empty bottle, the couple stood upon the dangerously rocking ark, the sea furiously tossing it up and down, side to side. They made their way to the edge of the boat, and the king turned to his queen._

" _Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" He shouted over the wind._

 _The woman nodded her head vigorously and answered the affirmative almost before he finished speaking._

" _Anna and Elsa must know the truth," she answered resolutely. "It's the only thing that will save them!"_

 _The royal pair looked earnestly into the other's eyes for a long moment before the king threw the bottle as hard as he could overboard, in hopes the thrashing waves would not knock the vessel right back into the ship, smashing it to pieces._

 _Looking up, they saw the tidal wave that they knew would mean their doom, and could only take comfort in the fleeting hope that their last message would, by some miracle, make its way into the hands of their only two children._

* * *

 _5 years later..._

" _What is it, Elsa?"_

 _Kaya looked down at the royal shivering beneath her, recovering from the culmination of their morning tryst. Feeling prouder than she probably had a right to at the undone state of her lover, Kaya leaned down and pressed small, chaste kisses to the queen's neck. To her, there was nothing that compared to the feeling of the fluttering pulse beneath her lips and the shuddering gasps that Elsa was drawing in and out of her body._

" _What's what?" Elsa finally regained enough of her composure to answer her question._

" _What's bothering you?" Kaya continued her perusal of the queen's throat; she loved the taste of Elsa's skin. "And don't even try to lie about it." She added a hard bite to emphasize her comment._

 _Elsa groaned in the pleasure-pain of the bite, but still seemed reluctant to answer until Kaya stopped her ministrations to raise her head, enabling her to look directly into the queen's ice-blue eyes._

" _Is it the wedding?" The slight shuttering of Elsa's expression, even for her lover, was a sure sign that Kaya had hit the nail on the head. "Do you not approve of Kristoff?"_

" _It's not...him, I just..." Kaya knew the Snow Queen wasn't particularly fond of the mountain man; most of the cordiality the queen displayed towards the Ice Master and Deliverer of Arendelle most likely stemmed from how much Anna and Kristoff loved each other. That much was obvious._

 _Kaya had a feeling of what the true reason for Elsa's stress lately was. She only wondered how to broach the subject. Especially for magic wielders like the two of them, Kaya knew nothing good ever came from bottling up emotion._

" _You feel he's taking her away from you." At Elsa's gasp, Kaya continued. "You're resentful of him."_

 _Elsa knew her lover had a tendency to be brutally honest sometimes (it was one of the reasons she trusted her opinion so much), but she wished Kaya didn't have to put it quite like that._

 _Seeing Elsa's struggle to admit her true feelings, Kaya backed off and tried to reassure her instead._

" _Elsa, it's not a crime to feel that he's more important to her than you are."_

 _Now she looked like she was about to cry._

 _Kaya gathered her into her arms, shushing her quietly._

" _I know...it's difficult to not be able to take top priority in someone's life." She paused. "Especially when it's someone that you care for deeply."_

 _Something seemed to dawn on Elsa, making her eyebrows furrow in a concerned frown. "Do I make you feel that way?"_

 _That is not_ _what I said. Kaya thought, knowing she likely looked perplexed._

 _She laughed, kissing Elsa's forehead. "Elsa, you are the reigning queen of an entire country; I'd be worried if I was always your top priority!"_

 _Elsa pouted. "How is it that you always seem to know what I'm thinking?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. "Is mind-reading another one of Orinda's many talents?"_

 _Kaya heard Orinda laughing jovially at the comment._ _ **Flattery will get you nowhere, my dear.**_ _She purred in Kaya's ear._ _ **Even I don't have that particular talent.**_

 _Deciding to make light of the situation a little, to get Elsa's mind off her troubling thoughts, Kaya lowered her head to kiss Elsa soundly on the mouth, the other woman moaning at the contact._

 _Kaya pulled back slightly to purr, "I always know when you're worried about something;" She kissed her way further and further down Elsa's slender form so that Kaya's shoulders were now above Elsa's abdomen. She licked her lips as she held Elsa's once-again heated gaze. "You don't come nearly as easily."_

 _She chuckled in enjoyment as Elsa seemed to snap and shoved Kaya on her back, hovering above her in a rare display of temper._

" _You-" Elsa nearly growled. But then she realized what Kaya's game was and her eyes softened infinitely as her ire abated. "Well, you are my top priority right now."_

 _Kaya's expression turned from surprised into mildly amused as she spoke._

" _I wouldn't have it any other way, believe me."_

 _Elsa was a woman of many talents, even outside the bedroom, but Kaya would be lying if she said that she appreciated any of them quite as much as the queen's ability to read her body's movements so well. Not to mention that nimble tongue of hers._

 _No matter how many times the pair made love, Kaya never got sick of the spontaneity of Elsa's sexual whims. It didn't matter where they were, or what they happened to be doing. If the mood struck Elsa, they would end up coming together in the most inopportune places._

 _And it was often the "mood" struck the Snow Queen of Arendelle._

 _It was amusing to think: even with the cut of the dress the queen normally wore, the people of Arendelle still continued to underestimate the insatiable sex drive of their "innocent" queen._

 _Anyone who looked at the Queen and her Captain and knew the pair were "involved" would assume that Kaya was always the one who initiated any physical intimacy the two shared...While Kaya certainly had no shortage of desire for Elsa, she was definitely the more practical of the two when it came to controlling her lust until in a more favorable setting._

 _And Elsa loved to attempt to wrest that control away from her. It was one of her favorite pastimes. The blonde was by no means an exhibitionist, but she seemed to subconsciously revel in the idea of being intimate in a place where it was more likely you and your partner would be caught._

 _Of course, it never hurt for your lover to always be able to sense whenever someone was approaching, creating a perfect balance for Elsa to indulge in both their passions whenever they desired._

 _Seeing the usually calm, controlled, borderline emotionless woman come apart under her (by her own standards) inexperienced fingers never ceased to be a marvel to Elsa._

 _Elsa kissed her way down to her personal favorite of Kaya's erogenous zones; her chest. Dominant and commanding as the woman acted in the public eye, it might sound odd that Elsa found her to be one of the most feminine-looking women she'd ever laid eyes on._

 _At least, when the woman tried._

 _With her image as a female captain in charge of nothing but men, Elsa understood why Kaya tried so hard to appear nothing short of strong and self-assured. Which was a crying shame, Elsa had to say, because Kaya would make the loveliest of women if she allowed herself the chance._

 _Which was why drawing those higher-than-you-would-think-pitched moans from between those petal-soft lips was so enjoyable for Elsa._

 _Who knew the fierce, stern-looking woman could make such delicate and feminine sounds in bed?_

 _Ever-patient, Elsa gradually worked her way down Kaya's toned body towards where she knew Kaya needed her most. She was aware that Kaya found almost as much pleasure in making her come undone as she did in reaching her own climax, which was why Elsa wasn't surprised to see the glistening evidence of Kaya's lust for her when she finally reached her destination._

 _As Elsa took a quick glance up, she saw Kaya's eyes were almost fully closed; her amber eyes glowing intensely in the dark of the room. The other woman writhed beneath Elsa as the queen brought her hands to brush the inside of her lover's thighs, beginning at the inside of the knee to painstakingly close to Kaya's center._

" _Gods, Elsa..." Kaya moaned, hating the way she loved Elsa's gentle teasing. "Please..."_

 _The air had gained a hint of coolness from the explosion of Elsa's climax, but the temperature in the room was quickly rising as Kaya drew closer and closer to her release. The formerly colder air had served to make Kaya acutely aware of the confounding sensitivity the feminine nub at the top of her folds gained when fully exposed to Elsa's eyes. Her lover's gaze on her always made her feel as if she were being tenderly caressed without the other woman ever lifting a finger._

 _Thankfully for the taller woman, she didn't have to wait long for Elsa to lay her hands on her, slowly easing her into a world of pleasure that only the Queen of Arendelle could take her to._

 _Kaya had long since wound her fingers in Elsa's hair, throwing her own head back as increasing ecstasy threatened to consume her. The seasoned warrior wasn't sure how much more of this even she would be able to take._

" _Elsa..." Kaya gasped her lover's name. "Please-"_

 _She cried out as Elsa actually removed her mouth, briefly blowing lightly on her throbbing center and stimulating her entrance before resuming her tactics._

 _The fire-wielder knew there wasn't anyone in the immediate vicinity, but she didn't want to burn the castle down with the force of her climax. It was an occupational hazard, although any damage Elsa did as a result of a mind-blanking orgasm was easily reversed with a wave of Kaya's hand._

 _At least she_ _didn't literally scorch what was around her with her pleasure._

 _So in-tune the pair was with one another, Elsa seemed to pick up on exactly what Kaya was thinking, and she once again removed her mouth from Kaya's center to hover above her captain, kissing her passionately as her fingers continued to work._

" _Don't think." Elsa murmured as she pulled only an inch away. "Just feel."_

 _Kaya drew in a sharp breath as the sensations from Elsa's talented fingers continued to work their magic._

 _She gave a short, sharp laugh. "Should that- ah!" She threw her head back. "-not be my line?"_

 _Elsa grinned reassuringly, feeling close to another climax herself. "Do you want to come?"_

 _They both knew the usually-dominant of the pair did- badly._

 _Kaya whimpered - she couldn't believe Elsa was able to draw such sounds from her!- and nodded her head vigorously, having temporarily lost the ability to speak, her breaths coming shorter and faster now. Still, even through the haze, she sensed Elsa was close to the edge once again, and lifted her hand from Elsa's back to stimulate her lover again as well._

 _The fire-wielder moaned. "Gods, I'm close!"_

 _Elsa bit back a groan as she ground her hips firmly against Kaya's hand. She moved back to her place between Kaya's legs and licked Kaya's bud once, then pulling away as she spoke,_

" _Then come." Even through the throes of passion, Kaya could feel the smirk Elsa wore as she once again placed her mouth where she knew it would help Kaya the most._

" _Let it go."_

 _It only took one more pull of Elsa's mouth for Kaya to come to a shattering climax, the world around her falling away until there was only blissful euphoria, and her beloved Elsa. Said queen shuddered through her own peak, her moans of pleasure sending delightful vibrations over Kaya's now-over-sensitized bud. The queen finally pulled her mouth away and collapsed atop her lover in a panting, sweat-slicked, but fully-sated heap._

 _As the couple descended from their respective highs, Elsa was overcome with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude for having had the chance to meet and fall in love with this woman._

 _Which was why, through the fog of the pleasurable aftershocks, she couldn't help herself from mumbling in Kaya's ear,_

" _Would you_ _marry me?"_

 _Kaya snapped right out of her post-orgasmic stupor to look at Elsa in shock._

 _Elsa, after a tense moment, seemed to realize the full implications of the question she'd just asked, purely on impulse._

 _She pulled herself up sharply so that she wasn't lying completely on top of her lover anymore and stared down at Kaya, the flush dusting her cheeks now having less to do with her recent orgasm, and more to do with the instinctual inquiry that now had them facing a very awkward moment._

 _Elsa stammered through the beginning of an attempt to write off what she'd just said. "I-I...Kaya, I didn't-"_

 _To her surprise, Kaya just chuckled in amusement. "And here I thought that the more manly of a two-woman pair would be the one to ask that question."_

 _Elsa was always strangely quick to defend her lover's femininity._

" _You are not_ _manly."_

" _Elsa, we both know I have very few feminine attributes."_

 _Elsa frowned. "Few as you think they are, I happen to appreciate your..." She brought a hand down to squeeze one of Kaya's breasts teasingly. "Feminine attributes."_

 _The raven-haired woman laughed and brought one of her hands up to cup Elsa's face, kissing her softly. "But in answer to your question: yes, gladly, and in a heartbeat."_

 _Elsa beamed. "Truly?"_

 _Kaya gave a brief, genuine smile before her expression once again turned serious._

" _But you do realize..." She watched Elsa tilt her head in curiosity. "That can't be an option for us."_

 _Though they both knew that they'd die for one another in an instant, Elsa could never shake the disappointed feeling she got when Kaya indulged in one of her greatest talents: being so damn logical._

 _Watching Elsa's face inevitably fall, Kaya steeled herself for the expected question:_

" _And why not?"_

" _Elsa, your people being accepting of your magic is one thing." She shook her head. "But women being intimately involved with other women is barely acknowledged as an existing_ _occurrence, let alone an accepted one."_

 _Elsa didn't see why her subjects' opinions should really matter so much when it came to what went on between the two of them._

" _Besides," Kaya continued. "The more pressing matter is that you need to give the people of Arendelle a king...And eventually, an heir." She tried not to pay attention to how heavy her heart was starting to feel. "It's expected of you."_

" _Maybe I don't want to always_ _do what's expected of me." Elsa snapped as she recoiled to sit on the other end of the bed, away from Kaya._

" _Elsa..." Kaya sighed, wanting to reach out to the other woman, but knowing she would probably shake Kaya off at this point. Kaya just couldn't help but try to not let Elsa get her hopes up for something as unrealistic as a marriage between two women._

 _Kaya decided to try to explain her reasoning to Elsa more fully, though a part of her shouted to quit while she was ahead. But she just couldn't leave it like this. "Is it not enough that our love for each other is boundless? Why must it be public knowledge?"_

" _What have we to hide, Kaya?" Elsa still looked hurt, even though she didn't turn around as she spoke. "Surely the fact that we care for each other is plain to see to everyone?"_

 _Kaya had to admit, while they were wary of any physical displays of affection, she was aware that their love easily shone through, despite their caution. There was just nothing they could do about that, short of purposely avoiding each other all day. Olaf, being the self-proclaimed "love expert", was predictably the first to notice that the queen and captain's relationship was more than what it often appeared. Anna had been a close second to notice, but Elsa had also confided in her sister._

 _Elsa broke her out of her ponderings. "Is it so wrong to not want to have to feign intimate interest in visiting male dignitaries? To want to be able to say I'm happily taken?" She shook her head, as if to clear it of all the negative thoughts. "Would you really be alright with me marrying a man I barely knew and having children with him?" She glanced back at Kaya, and as now-hardened golden amber met cerulean blue, a strange understanding seemed to pass between them, as if they were unconsciously agreeing to disagree. Elsa knew Kaya wouldn't be alright with any random person touching Elsa, just as Kaya knew that Elsa would never be completely satisfied with a relationship with the love of her life to be forever hidden in the shadows._

 _Still, they both knew this conversation wasn't over. They'd each made their points, and now they would think on it until the topic once again presented itself._

 _Luckily for Kaya, Elsa was never one to really hold a grudge._

* * *

 _The sisters stood hand-in-hand, soberly looking on the large headstones erected for their parents, the former King and Queen of Arendelle. Each held a small bouquet of yellow tulips, placing one at the foot of each grave._

 _Neither wept, but the queen's lover, who stood nearby, but far enough to give the two sisters privacy, could easily read the lingering sadness that never truly could be erased from the royals' minds. Both, she knew, missed their parents deeply, and though Elsa had found new happiness both with Anna and Kaya, herself, the Captain of the Queen's Guard couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to feel that deep-rooted sadness that would never truly go away._

 _ **Luckily, you only ever had to worry about being attached to a stepsister, never your parents!**_ _Fire demoness Orinda, her constant companion, said._ _ **That soft-hearted mother of yours died when you were small, and your father had no heart to speak of, so no tears to be shed there!**_

 _Far too accustomed to Orinda's insensitive nature to be surprised, Kaya simply rolled her eyes and continued to watch the slightly still-grieving pair, scanning their surroundings periodically._

 _She was near enough to overhear the sisters' conversation, but even though she knew Elsa wouldn't mind, she tried to tune it out._

 _Not yet looking at her younger sister, but meaning every word, Elsa said, "Anna, they would be so proud of you."_

 _Anna shook her head and was the first of the pair to give a genuine smile. "Both of us, Elsa." She corrected. She continued to look fondly at her older sister until the queen finally glanced back, the both of them sharing a contented smile before Elsa turned around, pulling Anna in the direction of the castle._

" _Now come on," she said, taking Anna by the arm. "I have a surprise for you."_

 _Kaya smiled at the thought of the "surprise" that Elsa had in store for her engaged younger sibling._

" _Really?" Anna sounded wary, a stark comparison from her usually jumpy personality. "Because surprises tend to be a hit or miss in this family."_

 _Elsa laughed softly, meeting Kaya's gaze affectionately as the pair neared her location before addressing Anna again._

" _This one you'll like, I promise." Turning fully to her sister, she added. "It's for your wedding!"_

 _Anna gave an excited smile and they joined Kaya, and the trio began the short walk back to the heart of Arendelle._

* * *

 _Present day, our world..._

"...You just better hope to hell you didn't bring anything _else_ back." Regina spat at Emma, who looked dejectedly like a kicked puppy. But seeing as the daughter of her former nemesis had just brought a woman- that was supposed to have died a long time ago- back from the past, seemingly ruining her chances at finally having a happy ending, Regina was disinclined to give a damn.

The Maid Marian and Robin Hood tearfully reunited, and Regina was too brought into a dewy-eyed state, though for not nearly the same reasons. Regina had truly felt that she and Robin had shared something special, but with his wife, whom he had believed had died long ago, now returned to him, it seemed as though there would no longer be a place for her in his life.

At least, not a role that she was interested in having.

Unbeknownst to all of Storybrooke, however, something else _had_ been brought back with the Savior...

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

The side-tipped urn's top popped off, allowing a silky blue liquid to flow between the cracks of the summoning circle in the barn. Suddenly, the shimmering substance began to converge upon itself, condensing and then solidifying to resemble a human form, its ice statue-like appearance fading away to reveal Queen Elsa.

The Snow Queen pointedly removed one of her gloves and irately used her magic to smash her makeshift prison cell into a thousand pieces.

Making her way out of the barn and down a deserted street, Elsa looked to the side to see a wooden sign reading, "Road Maintained by Storybrooke Beautification Society".

The glass-like shards of ice that proceeded to cover the entirety of the sign served as a physical manifestation of the queen's trepidation at the notion that she was no longer in Arendelle.

"Storybrooke?" The queen whispered to herself.

She feared this could only be the beginning of a long and arduous journey through an unfamiliar land and what was worse...she had a feeling she was all alone in it.

At the thought of a scenario so disquietly familiar that even the Snow Queen shivered in dread at what might lay in store for her.

* * *

The irritable Leroy sat in the front seat, looking huffily out the window with his easygoing companion doing the driving.

"Well that party went south fast." He griped.

Aggressive and ill-tempered by nature, it was not a familiar feeling to Leroy to not be constantly in control of a situation. And as the van they rode in passed a rather rough bump, he grumbled to himself that this was exactly the reason he hated anyone else but him doing the driving when he was in the vehicle too.

"Easy, Walter, _easy._ " He growled at the driver in a tone that clearly said: " _Moron!_ ". "She needs to be treated _gently._ "

Walter inwardly rolled his eyes. Leroy's Enchanted Forest counterpart was certainly impeccably named, no matter which realm he was in.

 _Grumpy,_ indeed.

"You made me designated driver." Walter shot back, calmly deflecting the morose behavior as always. "I'm gonna drive how _I_ like."

Leroy stared testily at Walter and couldn't seem to decide whether it was worth crashing his baby into a ditch on the side of the road to smack the other man upside the head.

"No beer is worth this." Reaching forward to turn the radio up, Leroy realized that it the station had suddenly went dark, with nothing but static buzzing through the speakers.

"Really? Radio station shuts down after dark now?"

He had barely finished speaking as he felt the van start to veer out of control. Turning to the driver, he saw that the dolt had fallen asleep at the wheel.

" _Sleepy!_ " Leroy shouted, vowing to throttle the bastard if they made it out of this as he grabbed for the wheel.

One minute he saw a figure in blue in the middle of the road, honking wildly at them to get out of the way, and then next...

All he knew was darkness as ice enveloped the front of the van.


	2. Tale of Two Sisters: Part II

Tale of Two Sisters: Part II

As Elsa walked down one of the roads in what she assumed was the town called "Storybrooke", she was almost run down by another loud metal machine, this one being ridden like a horse by a bearded man.

Ice started to encompass the surface of her skin as her fear mounted.

 _Now Elsa, just stay calm._ She tried to take deep breaths, drawing on the training that her lover had imparted on her when her despair threatened to consume her control. _Kaya isn't here to save you; you have to help yourself._

Having regained some semblance of calm, Elsa happened to notice a pristine white gown in the display window of one of the shops.

The sight of it brought her back to when she had still been in Arendelle...

" _You have to tell me! No, don't tell me!" The sole Princess of Arendelle rambled excitedly to herself as she followed her older sister up a flight of stairs. "Um...A horse and carriage! No a horse couldn't get up stairs..." Stumped for off-the-top-of-her-head ideas, she started spouting off more far-fetched ideas. "It's a snow palace! An indoor ice rink! The whole wedding will be on ice!" She gasped breathlessly, wistfully picturing such a thing._

" _It's an..." She skipped through the door her sister now held open for her to find..."Attic."_

 _Elsa grinned at her baby sister's blatant disappointment in the "surprise"._

" _It is indeed."_

 _Elsa stepped forward into the room and over to a wardrobe that stood in the middle of the room._

" _So we're here because...?" Anna couldn't see what was so exciting about an attic._

 _Elsa opened the wardrobe and stepped aside, saying only, "Take a look."_

 _Anna beheld the years-old, but still enchantingly beautiful wedding gown with awe._

" _Is that..."_

" _Our mother's, yes." Elsa tried to keep the pride from her voice._

" _You found it!"_

 _The eldest beckoned her sister with one shoulder, with a "Go on." and a giggle to encourage her to come closer to inspect her surprise._

 _Anna stepped forward, but inches from touching the dress, she pulled back, saying with a sigh,_

" _I don't wanna rip it!"_

" _Then you'll have to put it on carefully." Elsa's face remained faux-serious, but she inwardly laughed at the thought of how she and Kaya had stumbled across the gown, caught in one of their heated moments and in a rush to find someplace secluded and to themselves._

 _She was brought back to the present by Anna questioning that Elsa really wanted her to wear it._

 _Per her nature, she quickly and unabashedly answered her own question._

" _Of course you want me to wear it. Why else would we be here?" She laughed nervously._

 _In the end, Elsa was the one who took the initiative and took the dress from its hanger, holding it up in front of Anna for the other to grasp._

" _Hm...It's missing something." Elsa said in a mock-serious tone._

 _Anna looked up questioningly, only to find that her sister had conjured a delicate snowflake charm on a thin chain, seemingly out of nowhere._

 _Elsa held it up for a moment for her sister to see, and then proceeded to fasten the charm around the other's neck._

" _There." Both sisters laughed. "Something new to go with something borrowed."_

" _It's gorgeous!" Anna cried emphatically. "I mean enchanting." She finally got to the point when she said, "I mean I love you!" as she threw her arms around her sister._

 _Elsa laughed. She'd known Anna would love it, and Kaya had agreed. "You're very welcome! Now shall we see it with the dress?"_

 _As Anna disappeared behind the curtain that Elsa and Kaya had hung in the room previously she jabbered on about how beautiful and soft the dress was._

" _You know I'm going to spill something on it."_

 _Elsa shrugged, making a 'don't-I-know-it' face that she knew her sister couldn't see._

" _Maybe only clear beverages at the wedding?"_

 _Speaking of._

" _So...about the wedding." Elsa started. "Please tell me I don't have to walk down the aisle with Sven?"_

" _Of course not, you'll walk down it with Kaya, silly!" Anna giggled, poking her head through the curtains specifically to catch a glimpse of her sister's predictable blush that spread across her cheeks at the mention of her lover. "I mean not officially, I mean not yet!"_

" _And anyways, Sven's not the best man, but he is invited."_

" _Now would be when you tell me you're joking."_

" _He's going to be properly attired..." There was a rustling of cloth as Anna finished putting on the dress. "For a reindeer."_

" _I'm sure he will be," Elsa sighed. "I'm actually a little bit more concerned about the groom..." Disapproval laced the last few words of Elsa's statement._

 _As usual, Anna was quick to defend Kristoff's sometimes unrefined mannerisms, but never once took offense that Elsa was a bit put off by her fiance's rough-around-the-edges persona._

" _Elsa, he knows what to wear," She giggled. "It's not like he grew up in a barn."_

 _As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to reconsider._

" _Okay, fine, yes, he lived in one for a while, but he grew up with trolls!"_

 _Elsa gave her a look._

" _Just wait until you see him. He even cut his hair! He's going to look wonderful."_

 _Beaming as she ended the line of conversation, Anna ducked back behind the curtain and pulled on the straps of the dress, not hearing Elsa's wary comment of "That would be a most-welcome surprise." as she busied herself with looking through one of the room's old desks._

 _An old tome caught her eye, and she pulled it from the desk, opened it, and began to read._

 _She was so engrossed in the written words that she completely missed Anna stepping out from the makeshift dressing room in her mother's wedding gown._

 _Snowflakes that began to appear and circle in the air alerted Anna to Elsa's shifting mood._

" _Elsa, what's wrong? What is that?"_

 _Elsa sniffed as she looked up._

" _A diary?" Anna guessed._

" _Mother's." Elsa replied as she closed the book with a shaky sigh._

" _What's in there?"_

" _Our parents-" Elsa said slowly. "Their death...It's all my fault!"_

 _She ran out of the room with Anna's voice calling out to her echoing behind her._

* * *

" _They're doing well."_

 _Arendelle's female captain hummed her response to Thomas' observation and gave a small smile. Kaya stood with Loren and Thomas, overlooking the training yard. The new recruits were indeed doing better than had been anticipated, but they all knew the ardent, still-impetuous youths had a long ways to go._

 _Feeling her lover and queen's heat signature growing closer, Kaya turned to face the palace's front doors._

" _Captain?" Thomas inquired. "What is it?"_

 _Kaya didn't respond, instead deflecting the question by saying,_

" _Take over for me, will you?"_

 _It wasn't a request._

 _Both Thomas and Loren had probably deduced that the queen was somehow involved in the usually stoic woman's rapid shift of attention. Only Queen Elsa was able to pull Kaya's notoriously infallible focus away from whatever it was that she happened to be doing at the time._

 _Summoning her magic to lift her into the air to cover the distance to the doors faster, Kaya made it to the castle's entrance just in time for a distraught Elsa to burst through the doors and run right into Kaya's chest. The queen would have knocked them both to the ground at the speed she'd been running if Kaya hadn't been prepared for the collision._

" _Elsa? What is it?"_

 _Elsa didn't answer, but instead tore away, which was a big surprise; usually she came straight to Kaya (or if that failed, Anna) when something upset her._

 _Still, a long-standing habit such as handling her tumultuous emotions on her own, alone, was a hard one to break. Maybe she just needed some time to herself. Kaya could gently inquire about it later._

 _That said, Kaya prepared herself to catch the other Arendellian royal that came flying through the doors, this one tripping over her own two feet in her haste to chase after her sister._

 _Grasping the younger girl's elbows, Kaya sighed. "Gods, Anna, be_ _careful!_ "

" _Sorry!" Anna looked up at Kaya, as if only seeing her for the first time, then looked around to the people she had apparently almost run down in her rush. "Sorry!" Meeting Kaya's gaze again, she repeated again with a nervous chuckle "Sorry..."_

 _Feeling the urge, as she frequently did when around the young Princess of Arendelle, to slap her hand to her forehead, Kaya forced it aside and focused on the matter at hand._

" _I just saw Elsa run out the gates towards the forest...What in the world are you wearing?" Kaya asked, for the first time noting the odd choice of clothing of the princess. Even on the eve of her wedding, it was bad luck to go running around in your wedding gown._

" _Long story!" Kaya would've felt insulted at the dismissive tone, had it been used by anyone other than the person with the shortest attention span she'd ever met. "You said Elsa went in the direction of the forest? Thanks Lex, see ya!"_

 _With a cheeky wave, the bubbly redhead went running after Elsa, drawing strange looks from the various castle-dwellers along the way._

 _ **The klutz is going to get herself killed by tripping over the edge of a cliff one of these days!** Kaya knew Orinda too well to think that the demoness was actually concerned, but it was still a valid point._

 _She hated the idea of eavesdropping on the sisters...But if it gave insight to something that was bothering Elsa, she would make an exception._

 _It was with that thought that she once again summoned her magic to follow the redhead at a distance, if only to make sure she stayed safe until she found Elsa._

* * *

"I'm not _avoiding_ you," Emma sighed as her boyfriend-not-boyfriend, the former "Captain" Hook trailed along behind her. "I'm just dealing with...stuff." She went on to add, "We have a crisis right now."

Hook tilted his face back in an entire-head eye-roll of exasperation.

"There is _always_ a crisis." He sighed. "Maybe you should consider living your life during them, otherwise you might miss it."

The sudden, and, if Hook was being completely honest with himself, somewhat comical cry of "We're under attack!" from Leroy only served to confirm what Hook had _just_ finished saying.

He rolled his eyes as he and Emma turned to see Walter and Leroy sprinting up the street towards them, seemingly in a panic.

"We're under attack!"

 _As if we hadn't heard them the first bloody time._ Hook thought irately.

"Okay, Leroy, what is it?" Emma asked quickly.

"We were just driving home when some _thing_ blasted me with magic!" He breathed. "The whole van's iced over. We woke up in a meat locker...who's _got_ that kind of magic?"

Emma looked past him and said, "Maybe the person who made _that?_ "

The group turned to see what she was referring to, and saw the icy trail that led somewhere further into town.

* * *

 _Kaya perched silently on a branch high above Elsa's head, solemnly watching the snowflakes gracefully but somberly dance around the Snow Queen's head, signaling their master's anguish._

 _She wished fixing the problem could be as easy as appearing before Elsa, taking the queen in her arms, talk about the problem and making love to her until she felt better. Unfortunately, Kaya's instincts told her she wasn't the one that would be able to do Elsa's emotional state the most good right now...and Kaya had learned to always trust her instincts._

 _Luckily, the best potential remedy for Elsa's current melancholy state was approaching the clearing at that very moment._

" _Elsa?" Anna gasped as she ran up to her dismal older sister, smiling in relief that she'd found her. "Elsa!"_

 _The queen held up a hand as she told Anna she wanted to be alone._

 _Still slightly out of breath, Anna replied offhandedly, "You have a sister, you're never gonna be alone...Other than when I'm not around, but even then I'll be there in spirit." The knowledge that she was rambling again seemed to dawn on her, which just made her talk more. "But that doesn't matter because I'm here now and you're not alone," she took a breath, "And, you know what I mean? It's a good thing!"_

 _Kaya rolled her eyes at the redhead's nonstop talk. It wasn't a wonder why the young princess would be either very charming or very annoying to whomever she came in contact with...All the chattering was certainly not an action that Kaya made a habit of doing herself, but she sensed the seemingly nonsensical jabber might be just the thing to lift Elsa's mood...Or at the very least, give both Anna and Kaya a clue as to why she was so upset._

 _Anna stooped to sit on the ground beside the log that Elsa sat upon. She didn't waste time in getting to heart of the matter._

" _What was in the diary?" Seeing Elsa's reluctant expression, Anna pressed, "You can tell me anything."_

 _The two shared a long look as Elsa swallowed her unease._

" _...Turns out our parents didn't go off on some diplomatic mission, like everyone thought." She held eye contact with Anna. "That was just a cover."_

 _Anna voiced Kaya's thoughts. "For what?"_

 _Elsa raised her eyebrows and opened the book as she handed it to Anna._

" _Read it."_

" ' _I wish I didn't have to hide the truth from our children,' " Anna began reading the printed words aloud. " 'But the truth would be too painful. What we've seen from Elsa is terrifying, and it has to be stopped.' "_

 _Kaya barely restrained a short surge of anger at the thought that Elsa's idiot (in her opinion) parents would once again make Elsa feel like anything less than she was. Even from the grave, they ripped at their eldest daughter's self-esteem._

 _Elsa spoke. "They were scared of me, that's why they left..." Kaya could hear what sounded like Elsa trying to speak through a throat that was tightening up with emotion. "Because they thought I was a monster."_

 _The fire-wielder couldn't help how her heart softened and went out to her lover for unknowingly experiencing what she had so long ago. Of course Kaya had never had any illusions that her father had ever thought she was anything_ _but_ _a monster, but no one should ever have to go through or experience such a rejection._

" _No," Anna said vehemently. "I won't believe it. I_ _refuse_ _to believe it."_

" _It's all right there."_

" _Is it? Because it doesn't say where they were going or what they were doing." Anna seemed to want to cling to hope until the end. "It could be a misunderstanding!"_

 _Elsa now sounded close to tears._

" _Anna, because of me they left. Because of me, they can't walk you down the aisle tomorrow." She swallowed. "I'm so sorry."_

" _You don't have to be, it's not your fault! You are_ _not_ _a monster. I don't think so, this whole kingdom doesn't think so, and for sure our parents didn't think so." Taking Elsa's hands, Anna squeezed them as she reassured her. "And I will prove it. This diary is only part of the story."_

" _How do you know that?"_

" _Because!" She paused. "...Instinct?"_

 _Elsa gave her a look._

" _Okay, right, that's not enough. But there are more answers out there about what happened to them- I know it."_

 _If Kaya hadn't been trained for years to expect the unexpected, she would've fell out of the tree at the princess' out-of-the-blue gasp._

" _But I know who can help us find them!"_

" _Who?"_

" _My future in-laws."_

* * *

Following the ice trail, Emma and Hook traced it to an old factory just in time to see the door closing behind someone.

Emma, drawing her gun, lead the way through the door with Hook on her heels. They looked in the direction of the ice trail when suddenly the wind began to howl out of nowhere, and a giant monster that appeared to be made out of snow stood before them in the span of a few seconds.

Hook took one look at the being as Emma stood with an expression of surprise, confusion and skepticism on her face and shrugged.

"Alright," He said resignedly. "That's a new one."

* * *

" _Elsa, why are we going back to Arendelle first?" Anna asked. "I thought we were going to see the trolls!"_

 _Elsa rolled her eyes and kept walking. "I can't just leave without telling Kaya where I'm going; she'd worry."_

" _Oh come on, Elsa, like she couldn't find you from_ _leagues_ _away!"_

 _Elsa smiled. It was true, but being purposely irresponsible wasn't in her nature. Plus, she was starting to seriously need to see Kaya just so she could forget, even for just a moment, about this whole mess. For some reason, even her entire army never made her feel as safe as one tender look from her lover. Like nothing in the world could hurt her while Kaya was near._

 _It was one of the reasons she'd fallen in love with the stubborn, austere woman in the first place, after all._


	3. Tale of Two Sisters: Part III

" _Again!"_

 _Loren was taking his relatively new position as her lieutenant quite seriously, as it turned out, and she couldn't be prouder. He really had matured since she'd first met him. It was because of him that she and Elsa were able to have the occasional moment to themselves and for that, she was grateful._

 _Once she heard that the sisters were making their way back to the palace, Kaya came back and figured she would keep what she'd learned to herself for now. She hoped that Elsa would tell her the entirety of what had happened in her own time._

" _Kaya."_

 _Kaya had already known she was coming, but it was nice to hear her voice. It was warmer than when the queen addressed anyone else, save for Anna. So much love in her tone, Kaya always made sure that it was known the love was fully reciprocated._

" _Elsa." She turned to look at the queen. Elsa's eyes still seemed haunted, and Kaya didn't have to try very hard to make a concerned face. "What is it? What's happened?"_

 _She sighed and shook her head. "I-it's a long story," She looked up to meet Kaya's gaze. "I'm sorry for running off earlier, I-"_

" _Elsa." Kaya held up a hand to stop her, gasping one of the queen's hands with the other. "My dear, even if it is a 'long story',' if it's upset you, then I'd like to hear about it." She stared hard into Elsa's eyes. "But if now isn't the time, I understand that too."_

 _Elsa's eyes widened as if she'd expected to be pressed for answers, but Kaya wasn't about to add to the stress of what she knew the queen was already dealing with._

 _Seeing that Elsa understood, Kaya nodded and looked to Anna and back to Elsa again. "Are you two going somewhere?"_

 _Kaya hoped that Elsa wouldn't try to dodge that question too, but Elsa eased her fear._

" _We're going to the Valley of the Living Rock." Elsa paused, glancing at Anna. "We need some...answers."_

 _Kaya understood, and she figured it couldn't hurt to ask._

" _Do you want me to come with you?"_

 _Surprised, Elsa stared, then gave a small, tentative smile. "Would you? I-I mean I know you're busy and-"_

" _Captain!"_

 _Kaya had to try hard not to blast Thomas with her magic for simply coming in on the conversation at the wrong time._

 _She rolled her eyes and turned to her other lieutenant._

" _Loren is waiting for your- oh, hello Queen Elsa!" He gave a short bow, turning to address Kaya again. "He says you-"_

" _I'm taking the day off." Not waiting for a response, she took Elsa's elbow and began to lead her away. Taking one last look at Thomas' flabbergasted expression, she said, "Have fun without me." She gave a rare smirk. "And you can tell Loren I said that."_

 _He started to stutter a meek protest, but Kaya couldn't be bothered to listen, as she and Elsa had just about reached Anna, who was looking impatient as usual._

" _Can you really do that?" Elsa asked from her place at Kaya's side._

 _Kaya gave a small laugh and raised an eyebrow. "Can you?"_

 _They both knew she referred to the time that Elsa was taking away from her own work by messing around with this farce, so Elsa didn't comment, and instead simply smiled, happy that at least she had her supportive lover at her side for the first time since this mess started._

 _Kaya leaned to the side as they walked and pressed a tender kiss to Elsa's temple._

" _Everything's going to be just fine, Elsa." Kaya said. "I promise."_

* * *

" _We shouldn't be here."_

" _Oh, they're practically family." Anna said in her usual carefree manner, stooping once again to pick up the hem of her gown._

 _Kaya followed close behind the two sisters as they stepped into the trolls' clearing. They'd finally "clued her in" to the whole situation, as Anna termed it, and she hoped they would indeed find some answers with the trolls._

" _I_ _meant_ _you need to be planning your wedding."_

 _Anna shrugged. "It's tomorrow; if there's still planning to do, then I've horribly miscalculated."_

" _You need to rest. It's a special day, you should enjoy it."_

" _I can't if my sister's upset." She called to Grand Pabbie. "I know you're here; why aren't you showing yourself? Grand Pabbie?"_

 _One of the rocks that adorned the valley suddenly seemed to spring to life and rolled towards the trio, finally transforming into the leader of the trolls._

 _He shook his head as he looked at the royal sisters._

" _Oh, it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!"_

 _Anna rolled with it. "And when have we ever been traditional?"_

 _He caught Elsa's still-worried expression and asked what was wrong. "Something happen? You have second thoughts? He won't smell like that forever."_

 _Kaya smirked at that. She certainly hoped so too._

" _No, no, this isn't about Kristoff, it's about our parents." She presented him with the diary of the former Queen of Arendelle. "What were they really doing on that voyage?"_

 _The troll leader read through the queen's entries before admitting that he didn't know. Elsa thanked him and took the book back before turning to leave. Kaya wasn't surprised; she knew Elsa thought this trip had been a wasted one._

 _They hadn't taken a handful of steps when Grand Pabbie bade them wait, and said he didn't know what they were doing, but he did know where they were going._

" _Days before their journey, your parents stopped by to say they were not going to the Northern Isles. And they had a few questions about a land called Misthaven."_

" _What did they want there?" Elsa asked._

" _They never said." He replied. "They, like many of us, had their secrets."_

 _The old troll yawned and said something about that he needed his beauty sleep before taking his rock form once again._

 _Anna seemed excited about the one answer they had received, but Elsa looked more perplexed than ever, asserting that they now only had more questions._

" _We have to go to Misthaven!" Anna said, as if it could really be that easy._

 _Elsa voiced Kaya's thoughts right away._

" _No, I can't just...leave." She sighed irately. "I'm still queen, I can't just...abandon the kingdom."_

" _You're just making excuses." Anna lightly accused._

" _Have you forgotten your last dalliance- Hans?" Elsa raised an eyebrow. "He and his twelve angry brothers are out there waiting to pounce at the first moment of weakness."_

 _Anna gave in, but still tried to negotiate. "Okay, good excuses, but still! Let me go alone. Give me two weeks, Misthaven is a short journey! Two weeks, and I'll be right back."_

 _Kaya had no clue how the princess had any way of knowing for sure Misthaven would be such a short journey...Yes she'd heard of it, but that was only because Orinda was immortal and occasionally imparted knowledge about far off, little-known places._

" _That's just what Mother and Father said." Elsa somberly reminded Anna before dejectedly turning and walking out of the clearing._

* * *

 _Well at least this is something new._ Hook thought as he inwardly rolled his eyes.

As the ice monster turned towards them with the ever-present grimace, Emma held her hands up in a non-threatening gesture to the creature.

"We don't want to pick a fight!" Emma shouted up to the ice creature.

 _This can't end well..._ Hook took Emma's elbow and tried to lead her away from the dangerous-looking new arrival.

"Swan..."

Emma resisted. "I just wanna see what it wants."

The creature took one more step forward before roaring in a fashion that sounded suspiciously like " _go away!_ ", knocking the pair to the ground and Emma's gun out of her hand, accidentally setting it off and startling the beast into a rage.

The pair wasted no time in turning tail and running as fast as their legs would carry them away from the old factory and, unfortunately, straight into town.

Leroy, who happened to be coming around the corner at that moment, took one look at the creature and screamed, "Evil snowman! Run!"

This, of course, sent everyone within earshot into a panic, all of them sprinting away from the unfamiliar creature.

Emma, with her expression still mostly serious, rolled her eyes, all the while thinking,

 _What next?_

* * *

Back at the factory, Elsa watched the strangers flee from her creation and sighed in relief, though wasn't able to completely relax just yet.

A sudden wind brought what looked to be a paper with words printed on it to Elsa's attention. She picked it up and read the front page of the document.

" _Mr. Gold to Marry Belle French"_

Rather than the couple in the photo, it was something much smaller, and, to anyone else, much less significant that caught her eye.

She hastened down the street to see if she could find the shop.

* * *

Interestingly, the screams seemed to scare the monster into retreating into the nearby forest.

Emma, her father, David, and Hook wasted no time in following in quick pursuit of the creature.

They met Robin and company in the woods, the group promising to help bring down the creature, when out of nowhere, said creature appeared and knocked all but the newly-returned Marian to the ground, unconscious, leaving her to fend for herself.

Just as the creature is about to deal with Marian as well, it is dispatched by none other than Regina, whom everyone, including Marian herself, was sure that Regina was not only a monster, but hated Marian with a passion. Robin's official wife didn't know what to make of it, but she had always believed that there was good in everyone.

Perhaps even in the former Evil Queen would not be an exception?

* * *

Elsa made her way through town under the cover of the panic her creation had caused, in pursuit of the shop belonging to this "Mr. Gold". In that shop she suspected she'd find something that had once belonged to her.

She just hoped she wasn't too late.

* * *

" _Kristoff!"_

 _Elsa stormed into the barn, with Kaya close behind._

" _Where's Anna?"_

 _As soon as Elsa had indicated a bit earlier that she couldn't find Anna, Kaya had instinctively sought her out using the princess' heat signature. She now knew that Anna was at the docks, but for what, she couldn't say for sure, although she had a good feeling._

 _She figured the future Prince Consort would be as good a place as any to confirm her suspicions._

 _Elsa, impatient as she always was whenever gathering information pertaining to her sometimes-reckless sister, seemed to be on the verge of stamping her foot in frustration._

" _Don't be coy," She called to Kristoff, whom they both knew was in the barn with them. "Answer me."_

 _The reindeer, Sven, Kristoff's closest companion before he met Anna (even after he met her) snorted in what almost sounded like derision at Elsa's tone._

 _The Ice Master came from the right carrying carrots for Sven and gifted them to the reindeer as he spoke._

" _Easy, Sven," He gave Elsa a knowing look. "She can't help being bossy."_

 _The antisocial mountain man had no way of knowing Kaya happened to quite_ _enjoy_ _when Elsa was feeling particularly bossy. She smirked at the thought._

 _Unfortunately, Elsa wasn't in the mood for any sort of game, not when her sister seemed to be missing._

" _I'm not bossy." She denied. "I'm the queen."_

" _Isn't that the queen's job? Bossing people around?" Kristoff said in an obvious attempt at a redirection of attention._

 _Luckily, her Elsa wasn't to be deterred. "Don't change the subject Kristoff, where's Anna?"_

 _He shrugged. "Isn't she in the palace?"_

 _ **If she were, would we even be here?** Orinda chimed in._

 _It was scary how accurate the demon's line of thought was sometimes, as Elsa voiced the exact same logic not moments later._

 _Kristoff had noticeably started to figure out he couldn't keep this charade up for much longer, and pulled his cap off nervously._

" _U-um, well..." He started. "She had some- ah- errands to run."_

 _The fool then went on to stammer out a blatant lie about Anna thinking they needed more frosting for the wedding cake. Neither Elsa nor Kaya bought that for a moment, and Kaya was starting to suspect that Kristoff not only knew where Anna had gone and when she'd left; he was also stalling._

" _Talk, reindeer man. What is going on here?"_

 ** _Finally, we're getting somewhere._**

" _Wedding details. I'm just making sure-" Kristoff started to lie again, but Elsa cut him off as it dawned on her._

" _That she wasn't followed..." She sighed. "You're trying to delay me."_

 _He made one last ditch attempt at stalling the queen and captain by asking if they wanted to see the flower arrangements._

" _Where did she go, Kristoff?" As she watched Kristoff sigh, she voiced both hers and Kaya's suspicions. "Misthaven?"_

 _He finally gave up the act and nodded. "Okay, yes, but she's doing it for you."_

" _When?"_

" _She booked passage on a ship that's set to leave..."_

 ** _Right now._**

" _Well, any moment now."_

 _Kaya inwardly cursed. What a mess._

 _Seeing the dismayed look on Elsa's face, Kristoff spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie, I was just trying to help."_

 _Kaya heard Sven snort again in response to Kristoff's comment, but then her attention was captured by Elsa leaving the barn, supposedly to head to the harbor._

* * *

Mr. Gold, better known as Rumplestiltskin, or "The Dark One" in the Enchanted Forest, stared contemplatively at the cylinder-shaped box he had come across while on his honeymoon with the love of his life, Belle. They were in a mansion that had an unknown history as to whom its past owner had been.

 _Whoever they were, they certainly had interesting taste._ He thought.

Deciding to test his theory, as to find out if this newly-found object was what he suspected it was, he loosed a cloth to his right that was wrapped around the object that was both the key to his power, and the bane of his existence.

The Dark One's Dagger.

With the ability to control his nearly infinite power and the sole object able to effectively kill him, it was easily one of Gold's most prized possessions.

Second only to Belle, or so he liked to believe.

Waving the dagger smoothly over the top of the box, he watched in rapture as the magic from the dagger forced the box to reveal it's true form, which was what looked to be a wizard's hat with an image of a galaxy full of stars swirling around inside it.

He could not hold back what he knew would appear to be a sinister grin, and rightly so.

 _This is it._

* * *

Freezing the lock to Gold's shop to get in should have bothered Elsa, as it meant she was entering a place that belonged to someone else, but she was too fixated on the notion of finding her sister to pay much attention to that fact.

She looked around the shop and was quickly able to find the object she was looking for, the object that had once been hers.

* * *

" _Elsa, wait!"_

 _Kaya, Elsa and Kristoff arrived at the harbor just in time to watch the ship carrying Anna out of Arendelle sail past the fjord's walls._

" _It's too late." Kristoff said, pointing out the obvious._

" _We have to go after her."_

" _No."_

 _Elsa, being a monarch, was understandably unused to being told 'no'._

 _She turned to Kristoff sharply, snapping, "Are you really saying 'no' to your queen?"'_

" _I'm saying 'no' to my future sister." Elsa gave him a look. "In-law." He sheepishly corrected before continuing. "For good reason. We both love Anna, we both know her. She will be fine."_

 _Elsa sighed. "She didn't have to do this alone."_

" _Yes, she did." Kristoff argued. "You told Anna- and you're right- you're the queen." He looked away knowingly, seeming almost embarrassed. "We all remember well what happened the last time you left..."_

" _Well, why didn't_ _you_ _go with her?" Elsa asked, looking forlornly at the retreating ship._

 _Kristoff sighed. "She didn't want me to...She thought I was needed here."_

" _For what?"_

 _Kristoff looked at Elsa. "She didn't want_ _you_ _to be alone."_

 _ **How easily you're forgotten, my dear.** Orinda cackled, although both she and her host knew that wasn't what the princess had intended._

 _Elsa seemed placated by Kristoff's statement, but only just._

" _She'll be fine." Kristoff said again. "I believe in her; you should too. Because she doesn't give up on the people she loves...And she always succeeds."_

" _She also sometimes acts before she thinks." Elsa argued. "This place could be dangerous. What do we even know about this 'Misthaven'? How have I never heard of it?"_

" _You might know it better by what the inhabitants call it."_

 _Elsa cocked her head. "What's that?"_

" _The Enchanted Forest."_

* * *

 _Kristoff eventually wandered off after watching the ship disappear with both Elsa and Kaya, leaving the pair alone by the docks._

 _Kaya could still feel the stress radiating in waves off her sometimes-high-strung lover. She knew there would be no rest for either of them until the younger, reckless princess was safe and sound back in Arendelle._

" _I'll go with her."_

 _Elsa snapped her head in Kaya's direction._

 _Kaya took a step forward and clasped both of Elsa's hands in her own._

" _Kristoff's right; you can't leave Arendelle yourself and we both know Anna is too stubborn to be talked into coming back before she finds the information she's looking for."_

 _Elsa looked away. She hated to admit it, but what she said was true._

" _Loren and Thomas can manage the castle's security for two weeks while I accompany your sister...If she won't come home willingly, there's no sense in dragging her back-she'll just run off again."_

 _Also true._

 _Elsa still seemed reluctant to give her consent; as desperately as she wanted her sister safe and back home, she also didn't want to put yet another person she cared about in harm's way, even though she knew Kaya could more than handle herself._

 _Kaya switched tactics._

" _Elsa...You spoke of marriage." Kaya sighed. Elsa's eyes widened; she didn't think Kaya was going to bring that topic up again so soon. "I'm also assuming you'll want to raise children in some fashion...One day."_

 _Elsa blushed, but she nodded her assent for Kaya to continue._

" _This is part of the process." She explained. "Sometimes a child-" She nodded towards the already-disappeared ship. "Simply will not listen to reason, and they have to learn the truth the hard way...their own way."_

 _Kaya squeezed Elsa's hands in hers. "Part of being a good parent is allowing the child to find their own way in a controlled, safe environment, sometimes where the child has no idea there's a safety net to begin with...Am I making sense?"  
_ _  
Elsa nodded, her heart infinitely warmed by the idea of what a wonderful mother Kaya could make...if such a thing were possible for them._

 _But they'd worry about that later._

" _Please be safe." She finally acquiesced. "And bring yourselves home in one piece."_

 _Kaya made a deep, almost mocking bow. "By your leave, my queen. Don't do anything reckless while I'm gone, now, understand?"_

 _Elsa smiled for what felt like the first time in weeks. She leaned forward to place a quick, gentle kiss on Kaya's cheek, wrapping her arms around her lover's neck, enjoying her warm embrace as if for the last time. Kaya returned the embrace, briefly squeezing her beloved's shoulders once before releasing her and stepping back to the edge of the dock._

 _She faced the harbor, focusing on her destination for a moment before she turned around halfway to say with a small smile,_

" _Don't worry, Elsa, I'll bring her home safe." She nodded once more. "I swear it."_

 _With a flash of bright, fiery orange, Kaya took off into the sky, flying swiftly to catch up with the ship, leaving Elsa feeling more than a little lonely and worried, but more assured of her sister's safety while she was away now that her lover was on her way._

* * *

Elsa picked the snowflake charm up by its chain and watched as the light from the streetlamps outside made only the stone in the center glitter faintly, the rest of the charm was so old and rusted.

"Don't worry, Anna," Elsa said to herself in a shaky voice. "I will find you."


	4. White Out: Part I

_Previously..._

" _Don't worry, Anna," Elsa said to herself in a shaky voice. "I_ _will_ _find you."_

* * *

As Elsa stepped out of the antiques shop, she was once again bombarded the unfamiliar sights and sounds of the town, which only made her heightening anxiety worse.

She steeled her resolve, curling her hands into fists as she spoke.

"Until we're together, no one leaves this town."

The frost that immediately covered her clenched fingers only served as a testament to the Snow Queen's conviction.

* * *

 _It didn't take long for Kaya to catch up with Anna on the departing ship, and she was not a little miffed that said princess had run off...and upset Elsa in the process._

 _Although, if Kaya weren't involved with Anna's sister, then the grief and distress of the queen would not affect her so, and thus she wouldn't be so compelled to do anything about it._

 _ **You see how troublesome emotion is, dear?**_ _Orinda needled._

 _ **That can happen when you're doing the right thing, rare as that used to be for us.**_ _Kaya shot back as she flew._ _ **But when doing the right thing also means bringing Elsa peace of mind, I'm all for it.**_

 _ **I don't think I've ever done the "right thing"...ever.**_ _The notoriously mischievous and capricious demon didn't sound particularly regretful, but Kaya couldn't help but wonder if even a demon would ever do the right thing, simply for the sake of doing the right thing._

 _ **You know...**_ _Kaya continued._ _ **Before Elsa, I didn't think anything could be done-for either of us- to atone for all the things we've done.**_ _Kaya didn't know exactly what kinds of sins a demon thousands of years old had amassed, but she had an inkling._

 _While she'd avoided killing civilians like the plague, she had often done as what was required if said person posed a threat to her family or country._

 _ **We're still going to Hell.**_ _Orinda said dryly._

 _Kaya laughed lightly. The woman didn't sound as if the thought bothered her one bit._

 _ **I thought you didn't believe in the afterlife?**_

 _ **I'm immortal, dear, there is no "afterlife" for me...Just for you!**_ _She chuckled._ _ **I was only speaking metaphorically.**_

 _ **Then you'd better make your immortal life as good as possible.**_

 _ **Hmm...Well, I'll consider that... I**_ _ **f**_ _**I ever get out of here.**_ _Kaya could practically see the sometimes-childish spectre sticking out her tongue at her host._ _ **In the meantime, consider my endless supply of strength and magic a gift from yours truly.**_ _She commented snidely._

 _All the talk of atonement and even the infinitesimally small possibility of Orinda actually getting her own body again one day had apparently sent the often-cryptic woman into a somewhat somber mood, giving Kaya a rare moment with her mind all to herself._

 _In her travels while conquering her father's enemies for him, she had researched endlessly for a way to eventually expel the demon from her body, extract her from her own soul. After a while, realizing that all the demon truly desired was to be left alone, Kaya had even considered finding a way to give the demon a body of her own to reside only solid information she was ever able to find, however, came from an old monk in a much-older temple in the far recesses of the East, in a country that was actually quite a bit south from her own country._

 _She had a rare break from enacting her father's conquests, and had decided to head south, where she'd heard of a great temple with an endless number of books and scribes with information on anything you could think of. Kaya had had her doubts about the validity of any information she would find pertaining to demon exorcisms, and Orinda had been even more dubious._

 _Still, she went to pass the time, finding that she loved the peace and tranquility that was a temple library, ending up reading tomes on all kinds of subjects. It wasn't a habit she could easily indulge, being constantly on the move, but she did so love to read. She even found herself in the actual on a few occasions, to pay her respects to the "reigning" deity. Kaya didn't know if she believed wholeheartedly in any particular god, but she understood and accepted that it was just one of those things that she didn't know and wouldn't ever know for sure one way or the other._

 _The head monk noticed her presence in the temple with her head bowed in reverence briefly and sensed her dubiousness about the existence of their patron god. Kaya would've thought that this would've offended the old monk, but he just smiled and, after he'd invited her to tea, gave her the answers she sought._

 _Or one of them, at least._

 _He told her that the only way he'd heard of to exorcise a demon of Orinda's caliber, and possibly give her a form of her own, would be to amass a ridiculous amount of black magic in one place and take it into herself...Orinda would supposedly be able to harness the magic and be able to break herself out of her prison, thereafter creating a body of her own._

 _Of course, Kaya had been forced to allow Orinda to translate for her and then do the talking as well, as the immortal woman seemed to have knowledge of a great many languages...one of her "great many talents", or so she said._

 _Still, the notion of collecting and harnessing that much black magic was not only intimidating, it filled Kaya with a deep sense of foreboding and dread..._

 _She of all people knew that that kind of magic would come with a price._

 _All magic did._

 _And that price? She wasn't sure now or then that she even wanted to know._

 _Surprisingly, Orinda conceded, and after that, she and her host had all but given up hope of ever having a body to themselves._

 _Shaking off the disappointing train of thought, she looked at the ship below and descended, earning herself multiple shouts of surprise and awe from the onlookers. Not all the ship's passengers were inhabitants of Arendelle, and so were not familiar with the often-stoic woman who was able to command heat and flame at will._

 _Which meant the poor souls also had no way of knowing about her ability of flight, either._

 _Thankfully, there was only one passenger whom she gave a damn about._

 _Landing gracefully, she was only slightly pacified at the sheepish look the princess had the gall to don as they approached one another._

" _Kaya..." She laughed nervously, seemingly sensing Kaya's innate disapproval of her actions. She bobbed a quick curtsy, and the fire-wielder shook her head, resigned to the princess' sometimes-thoughtless nature._

" _Your sister was upset to find out of your departure..._ _After_ _the fact." She raised an eyebrow. "But you already knew that, right?"_

 _Anna had the grace to look a little guilty at causing her sister any kind of pain as she shuffled her feet on the deck of the ship._

" _Lex, we both know she wouldn't have let me go..." She shook her head. "Besides, we need to know the truth..._ _I_ _need to know the truth."_

 _Kaya waved off her explanation, though she fully understood the yearning to know the full truth. She stepped forward to stand beside the princess, looking not at her, but at the sea and the distant shore beyond._

" _It's not my place to question the actions of a royal."_

 _Anna gave her a "look"._

 _Kaya couldn't stop herself from allowing her lips to quirk slightly upwards, continuing,_

" _Though...I do hope you'll allow me to accompany you on your journey. I would consider it an honor."_

 _Anna knew that, just as no one would have been able to stand in the way of her quest for the truth about her parents, there would be no talking Kaya out of something once she'd made up her mind...It was one of the few things they shared in common. Well, that and the shared love of her sister._

 _She pretended to debate the matter. "Well...two people travelling together will be more conspicuous." She gave an overdramatic sigh as she added with a wink. "But I_ _suppose_ _some company would be welcome."_

 _Kaya rolled her eyes at Anna's antics as she sighed and continued to look out over the water._

" _So," She asked. "Where to?"_

 _Anna related that Kristoff had said that he had a friend that lived in the Enchanted Forest, and that they could at least spend the night on his farm if they mentioned his name._

 _True to his word, not a day later, Kaya and Anna crossed an open field and saw a small farm that looked to consist of nothing more than one horse, a few sheep, and a lonely cottage and barn. Anna wasted no time knocking upon the door, only to be greeted by a man no older than Kristoff, asking if he could help them._

" _I hope so...Are you David?"_

 _He looked righteously confused that a complete stranger knew him by name but answered nonetheless that he was, in fact, David._

" _So anyway...I got your name from an old friend of yours from Arendelle."_

" _From Arendelle?" He replied, coming out of the house to stand with them on the outside, his body language friendly. "You know Kristoff?"_

" _What makes you think it's Kristoff?"_

" _He's...the only person from Arendelle I know."_

 _This far from Arendelle? That logic certainly made sense._

" _Okay..." She frowned, though still managing to keep her smile intact. "He didn't tell me that." She looked at the farmer. "Hard to be on a secret mission when you don't have all the facts."_

 _The girl_ _clearly_ _didn't know the meaning of information that was on a "need-to-know" basis...Kaya rolled her eyes._

" _What's the mission?"_

" _I just told you- it's secret. But he told me I could trust you!" She looked away sheepishly. "Just...not with the mission."_

 _The farmer was understandably not buying the story, and even less so when he asked for their names and Anna said "Joan". She gave Kaya a dirty look when she gave her own name freely, without any tricks._

 _He smiled, but the way he drew his eyebrows together only confirmed he was dubious about whether this girl was telling him the truth...Which was then confirmed when he voiced the accusation._

 _Seeing she was caught, but still not giving her name, Anna said,_

" _You're smart too." She laughed. "That's good. See, I have to give a false name for your safety!"_

 _He gave a short laugh of disbelief. "You're wanted?" He glanced briefly at Kaya. "And I suppose 'Kaya' is a made-up name too?"_

 _Kaya gave a small smirk._

" _Look, I don't know if I can be more clear..." Anna butted in before Kaya could answer. "Secret mission...your safety..."_

 _She sighed. "Let me start over: I'm Joan. Can we sleep in your barn?"_

 _He smirked. "Sure, Joan." A smug look appeared. "Anything for Kristoff's fiance."_

 _Kaya had a more capricious sense of humor than most people she knew, and_ _she_ _found the way Anna's face fell highly amusing._

 _David gestured to the Anna's ring finger. "The ring?"_

 _She laughed, realizing her forgetfulness. She accepted his congratulations with a slightly miffed smile, although Kaya was sure she was more upset with herself than the farmer._

 _He shrugged. "I guess I'll find out your name at the wedding." Laughing, he added, "The barn is out back, you can stay the night..."_

 _David trailed off as something over Anna's shoulder caught his attention._

" _You should hurry and get inside." He said. "This is a bad time."_

 _Anna and Kaya turned to see a lavish carriage being driven in their direction._

" _Who is that?"_

" _That is someone you don't want to mess with." David paused. "They call her Bo Peep."_

* * *

Elsa stared in both dread and fascination at the group that just arrived in front of her newly-created wall. There was one woman, a blonde, and two men, one in a long, black overcoat with a hook for one hand, and another blonde, who seemed to be the one in charge, although the blonde woman's opinion seemed to hold a fair bit of weight with both of the men.

She knew her fear of both the unknown and being without Anna or Kaya...that certainly did not bode well for her being able to control her power...Her desperation to control it and find out what happened to both her lover and her sister was only making things harder.

Elsa whipped around when she heard someone climbing the ice in her direction. When she turned she saw the blonde woman approaching, and even though she promptly introduced herself and seemed to try to keep her body language as non-threatening as possible, Elsa couldn't help but be defensive...

* * *

Being a cop, Emma was certainly no stranger to people acting irrationally out of desperation and/or fear...And this woman had those emotions written all over her face. The woman-Elsa- probably knew full well it was unfair to come straight out and demand to know where her sister was, all but accusing Emma of somehow keeping the girl captive...And without a name, no less.

"I have no idea, but if you want me to help you, you have to help me." She might have used a slightly rougher tone of voice, but Elsa looked like she was about to reach her breaking point.

Emma stepped a little closer and said gently, "What's her name?"

Elsa took a breath and seemed slightly calmer.

"Anna."

* * *

 _Kaya stared on, unimpressed by the newcomer's arrogant facade. She and Anna, being the outsiders of the group, stood back and simply watched, Anna in horror, Kaya in apathy, as the haughty woman threatened David and his mother, Ruth. From what she could gather, it seemed that David and his mother owed this Bo Peep something, and she was not willing to wait any longer for payment. Her visit lasted just long enough to intimidate the poor farmers and tell them they had one day to get them what she was owed, or she would take the farm._ _The woman reminded Kaya vaguely of Zmeya, what with the pompous blustering and the way she enjoyed tormenting other people._

 _David turned to his mother, whispering as if the woman antagonizing them weren't standing right there. "Mother, we don't need this. Let's go, we can leave this place and start ov-"_

 _Bo Peep slammed her walking stick into the ground, a mist of green magic flowing quickly out of it and attaching itself to David and his mother, knocking both of them to the ground. The guards accompanying Bo Peep laughed heartily as the farmers came out of their daze._

" _You can't go anywhere." Bo Peep said menacingly. "You're branded now." She stroked the walking stick almost lovingly. "This stick is how I find my flock. And you're now one of my sheep." She shrugged. "If you don't like it, pay me what you owe me or this farm- and your lives- are mine."_

 _They watched as she imperiously sashayed away._

 _Some time later, Kaya was keeping an eye on the princess, even though she trusted her enough not to run off on her this time, and she happened to witness Anna trying to convince David to fight back against the warlord. David maintained that he was just a shepherd; why fight a battle you can't win?_

 _Kaya had to agree with his logic. It wasn't as if he only had himself to think of...he also had to think for his mother's well-being, and what would become of her if he fought against this woman and lost._

 _David continued to say that if someone picked a fight with him in a tavern, he could hold his own, but his fists weren't going to do any good against a warlord with a private army. Anna then insinuated he should try using a sword instead. Kaya had to stop herself from laughing. She spoke as if skill with a sword simply appeared overnight...Even Anna had watched and experimented with a sword for years before she had any measurable skill._

 _The burst of laughter was quickly extinguished when she saw that Anna was, in fact, serious._

 _What was worse, the moron of a hopeful farmer was actually_ _considering_ _going along with her ridiculous farce._

* * *

Hook and David approached Emma and Elsa quickly- too fast, for Elsa began to panic and ice spears shot from the ground and ended up trapping both of them in an ice cave that where the temperature was too low for Emma to survive in for long. David pleaded for Emma to say something through the walkie talkies they shared, and Elsa demanded for them to find Anna before she froze Storybrooke and everyone in it.

The men looked at each other, harried with worry over the woman that they both loved dearly, and set out to do just that.

Or so they hoped.

* * *

 _Kaya couldn't fathom what the reckless redhead was thinking now. She leaned against the fence that caged the sheep and watched from afar as the princess attempted to make a master swordsman out of a farmer in a day. If the underlying serious nature of the situation weren't so apparent, Kaya would've laughed at the ludicrousness of it all._

 _It wasn't that she didn't think the farmer had potential; Anna saw the underlying courage, Kaya saw it too, but that didn't mean he had the skill to stand up to his bully. Kaya could've stepped in and given both of them a few pointers, but she thought this was as good a chance as any to allow Anna to grow a bit as a leader. She had all the makings of a great teacher...now if only she'd grow out of that reckless phase._

 _Kaya rolled her eyes. As if_ _that_ _were likely to happen._

 _Again and again, she watched as the farmer so determinedly tried to beat Anna in battle with his blade. His swings were getting less clumsy, but his posture still held a degree of uncertainty that Kaya would've beaten out of her trainees within the first few hours of training. If you were going to fail, at least do it with conviction._

 _Finally, he told Anna that they were done and that enough was enough._

" _I'm sorry," He panted. "But if I can't beat you, how am I gonna beat her army?"_

" _Wow, you really like to give up." Anna looked a little winded herself, but couldn't seem to stop herself from attempting to bait the farmer into losing his temper and trying again._

 _Kaya smirked. So the princess_ _had_ _learned something from watching her teach the trainees._

" _I know you think you know more, but I have my share of experience too;" He argued. "I know about battles that can't be won."_

 _Anna looked down with a mock smile on her face, the picture of exasperation._

" _And right now, the best hope for me- and more importantly, my mother- is survival."_

 _Anna shrugged. "I was wrong." She squinted at him. "You really,_ _really_ _like to give up."_

" _I like to survive." He persisted._

" _It isn't living!" Anna shot back._

 _David had just picked himself up- again- from off the ground as he paused. "It's actually the definition of living."_

 _Anna sighed. "Now who's naive?"_

 _She went on to confide in David how the same thing had happened with Elsa; how she'd run away and hid because she thought that was the solution to her problem. Anna said Elsa had needed a push to see that surviving wasn't living. She related it to David's current situation with Bo Peep, how if he became her slave, gave in to her, he'd be doing the same thing: running from the real problem._

 _David shook his head as he began to walk away._

" _I'll lose everything if we fight."_

" _You'll lose more if you don't!"_

 _The farmer, whom Kaya had seen little evidence of a temper, finally seemed close to the end of his patience._

" _Let me be the judge of what loss I can take."_

 _Anna accused him of not knowing anything about loss, that he was just afraid of it._

 _David sighed and sat down, telling Anna exactly why he knew about fights that couldn't be won. His father (a weak-minded drunkard, to Kaya's ear) had went for supplies on a two week trip and had successfully avoided the drink for thirteen days, but then on the fourteenth, he gave into temptation and he ended up running himself off the edge of a cliff, along with his family's cart._

 _Kaya was pretty sure David was aware that his father's weakness had no bearing on him, but he continued to deny that he had either the strength or the potential to be something other than what he currently was: a farmer who'd had a lousy father._

 _Anna seemed to finally start to accept that David was serious about quitting and giving in._

" _Look, we just need a night here before we continue on our journey," She sighed. "But I'll stay tomorrow and help, if that's what you want. Just meet me in the morning at the barn," Her voice gained a bit of a hopeful and determined note to it. "And we can continue training."_

 _At David's silence, she said, this time more soberly,_

" _But if you don't...Then we'll just be on our way."_

 _Dejectedly, she turned away and happened to meet Kaya's gaze as she crossed to the barn. Somehow, it didn't sit well with Kaya that her would-be sister-in-law was upset over this...over anything, really. She was practically family._

 _She she didn't glare, but simply continued staring at the farmer, whom she could see was feeling guilty about upsetting the girl and denying her offer to help._

 _He finally snapped, though they both knew he wasn't really angry at Kaya; he was more frustrated with himself._

" _We both know I'm right!" His shoulders slumped, and he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just a farmer...a shepherd."_

 _Kaya finally decided to speak, saying more than David had ever heard directed at him personally from her before._

" _You have the potential to be so much more. You need only the opportunity to prove it." She quirked her head, deciding to tell him her connection to the two sisters, hoping it would help motivate him somehow. "Her sister...She means more to me than anything, and what Joan said was true; just being breathing, having your heart beat at all; isn't enough. Through knowing the both of them, I learned that even through fear of the unknown, if you don't ever take chances, you'll never know how far you'd have gone." She sighed lightly. "Take it from someone who knows...The brave might not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all."_

 _With that, she turned and walked away in pursuit of Anna, leaving the farmer alone with his thoughts._

* * *

"Aren't you cold?" Emma wheezed. "I'm freezing."

Elsa, doing her best to remain outwardly calm, sat somewhat rigidly on a slab of ice as she shrugged.

"It's never bothered me."

 _Fair enough_. Emma thought, deciding to change the subject.

"The other day there was a-" She shook her head. "Well, we called it a snow monster. I assume that's something you made?"

Elsa's eyes hardened again.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get my sister back."

Emma held herself, shivering from the cold.  
"I can tell you care about her a lot."

Elsa began to look for Anna's necklace, before realizing, as Emma pointed it out, that it had fallen in a crack in the ice, making it impossible to get at unless she melted the ice to retrieve it, which was exactly what Emma then suggested she do.

The Snow Queen simply shrugged and looked regally away as she stayed silent, not willing to admit that she had no control over what happened with her ice anymore.

Emma, deducing quickly what Elsa's silence meant, said,

"You can't control it, can you?" It wasn't so much an accusation, as a statement of fact. "What you said to David on the walkie wasn't a threat it was a warning- because you can't control what you're doing."

Elsa was on the verge of tears once again as she spoke,

"What makes you think you know me?"

"Because I know me, and I have powers too, and I'm not great at controlling them. From the looks of it, you're the same way."

If they weren't in such a hopeless-looking situation, Elsa would've rejoiced at finally finding another, besides herself and Kaya, that had the gift of magic.

Elsa, finally warming somewhat to the other woman in front of her, took a deep breath and told Emma that Anna helps her control her magic...

"So does Kaya..." At Emma's questioning look, she added. "The captain of my guard..." She gave a half-sob. "If I can find them, they can help me reverse this; we can get rid of all of this, the whole wall!"

Emma walked a few steps, trying to keep warm. "Well, I'm afraid they're not."

Elsa suggested that maybe Emma's magic could help them out of the cave, but after a shaking Emma tried and failed, her strength seemed to give out and she slowly dropped to the floor.

"I'm just so tired."

Elsa quickly went to Emma's side and held her hands, trying to keep her awake; if the woman slept now, Elsa knew she would die.

They spoke of how Emma grew up in a place without magic and how they were both unprepared for the roles that life had in store for them: Emma saving Storybrooke, and Elsa becoming the queen of a large land with a giant secret hidden from everyone.

"Sometimes, it all just feels like too much, doesn't it?" Elsa said. "And even trying to just shut it out- that ends up hurting people too...And part of it is: I'm the only one I've ever heard of- besides Kaya- with powers like ours..."

"That must be very lonely for the two of you." Emma stuttered.

Elsa shrugged and gave a small laugh. "We have each other."

Emma smiled, but then tried again to lay down on the floor.

"Oh, no, no, Emma!" Elsa cried. "I'm so sorry I trapped us in here; I didn't mean it!"

"I know." Emma sighed.

"Emma?" Elsa exclaimed. " _Emma!"_


	5. White Out: Part II

David and Hook burst into Gold's shop on a run, making Gold and Belle look up from taking inventory of the shop, as the lock had been broken while they were away.

Grimacing in annoyance, Gold mumbled, "It appears our honeymoon is over..."

David spoke first. "There's an emergency. Emma trapped under ice by a woman with some kind of ice magic."

"And this involves me because...?"

Belle almost rolled her eyes. Typical Rumple.

"You're the bloody Dark One," Hook snapped. "Do something!"

Gold's temper, sightings of which were reserved for only a select few that he really hated, reared its head. "Well, I could melt the ice, destroy it with a thought..." He bit out patronizingly. "But that would also destroy your girlfriend; is that what you want?"

David held out a placating hand out in front Hook, sensing the former pirate captain was inches away from leaping across the counter to attempt to throttle one of the most powerful beings to ever live.

"No one's destroying anyone!" He went on, "Now the woman that has Emma trapped is in there with her, and she's looking for her sister- name of," He paused, remembering the name. "Anna. She thinks she's here in town because of something of hers she found in your shop...A necklace."

Ever-helpful, even when her husband wasn't, Belle pulled out the card detailing the item that they now knew had been stolen. "Is that it?"

David took one look at the card when it dawned on him.

"Wait...I know this." He murmured. "I know exactly who Anna is."

* * *

" _Joan?"_

 _David looked into the barn and was only able to see his horse...Maybe the girl was in the alcove to the right?_

 _He stepped into the barn continuing, "Joan, I'm sorry, but we can't win this." He sighed. "You have to go, before Bo Peep returns. I-I've brought some provisions."_

 _Still answered with silence, he said. "Get out of here, you can save yourself."_

 _A disturbingly familiar voice purred,_

" _No, she can't."_

 _Bo Peep appeared from the shadows to David's right, holding her shepherd's crook, as usual._

 _Instinctively, David knew something had been done to Joan, and he demanded to know where she was._

" _I have her where she can't get out..." Bo Peep produced Joan's necklace and dangled it teasingly before David's eyes. "...And get herself in trouble."_

 _Bo Peep sauntered closer. "And even if she does, she's been branded." Her crook glowed with magic as she took another step. "I can find her." She smiled in what she probably thought was a charming manner. "Always and forever."_

 _David stood speechless...What could he do for Joan? What that other woman, Kaya, say when she heard her traveling companion had been kidnapped?_

" _So now all that's left is for you and your mummy to pay me..." She raised her eyebrows. "Or hand over your farm."_

 _She walked confidently out of the barn, leaving David to wonder how in the world he could fix this._

* * *

 ** _Are you sure you're alright with this?_** _Orinda inquired._ ** _I don't want to hear any griping later about how you wished you'd done something sooner_** _._

 _Kaya smirked._ ** _There's no need to rush into anything._** _She shrugged._ ** _I know exactly where Anna is and whether she's injured or not. Plus, I know Bo Peep's intentions towards her._**

 ** _Or lack thereof._** _Orinda quipped._

 _It was true. Bo Peep seemed to only have captured Anna in an attempt to goad David into doing something stupid or giving up his farm...Either way, it didn't seem as if Anna was in any real_ _danger._

 ** _Elsa would have a coronary if she knew you just stood by and watched Anna be kidnapped._**

 _Kaya scoffed._ ** _Please. Why should I worry when I know who the hero of the story is?_**

 _In her mind's eye, she saw Orinda raise a skeptical eyebrow._ ** _So...you're letting the farm boy play hero?_** _She laughed._ ** _Dear, you're crueler than I ever gave you credit for, teasing the lad with hope for such lofty ambitions..._**

 ** _He'll come through._** _Kaya assured her alter-ego._ ** _And if he doesn't, I'll be right there to make sure Anna is safe and sound._**

 ** _Ah._** _Orinda sighed._ ** _Yes, well, you're either being very cruel or very gracious, giving him the chance to prove himself like this..._** _She scoffed._ ** _Either way, I don't really care to know._**

 _Leia allowed the demon to have the last word and proceed to retreat back into the far recesses of her mind, leaving Kaya alone with her thoughts once more._

* * *

David wasted no time in going to the butcher's shop in Storybrooke, where the current "Bo Peep". He found Peep using a cleaver almost viciously on a rack of ribs.

She looked up as he entered and sneered, "Sorry, lambkins, we're closed." She returned her attention to her chopping.

"I need your help." David's voice cut over the sound of the _thud!_ of the cleaver.

She gave him a look of disbelief. "You and me- we ain't friends." She drawled in her Cockney accent. "I'm not interested." She pointed to the door with the cleaver. "Get out."

David took a deep breath and switched tactics. "You don't have your helpers here with you anymore, Peep."

The comment almost seemed to strike a nerve in the woman and she raised the cleaver up to eye level. "Right." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I just have one. Say hello!"

She made to take a swing at David with the weapon, but Hook stepped in with a 'Don't do it!' and grabbed the former warlord from behind, stopping the cleaver's descent.

David didn't waste time in leaping over the counter, shoving his former tormentor up against the nearby fridge and asking where she was keeping the crook; he knew she wouldn't keep it far from her. With Hook's help, they got the crook and were just heading out the door when the walkie that Hook had sprang to life, this time with that woman- Elsa's- voice.

Hook continued to say, deadly concern lacing his voice. "She said Emma's passed out; she's freezing to death."

David's eye's widened as he tried desperately not to panic.

* * *

" _High noon." The warlord drawled. "Right on time."_

 _Kaya watched passively from the shadows of the nearby trees, a hidden bystander to the altercation._

 _Bo Peep sat up in her chair beneath the pink canopy. "I hope you got my money."_

 _David didn't see any point in beating around the bush; he already knew what his course of action would be. "Sorry."_

 _Hearing not even a hint of trepidation or fear in the farmer's voice caught the woman's attention._

 _She stood from her seat, inquiring, "You're not actually considering fighting?" She leaned against the canopy's post casually. "You know you can't win."_

 _When David's calm expression didn't change, she nodded to her guards. "Boys."_

 _Per their cue, the men drew their swords, two to one._

 ** _Time to see what you've learned, farm boy._** _Orinda couldn't disguise a certain excitement that her tone held in it._

 _No one was more surprised than Bo Peep as the meek farmer swiftly drew his own sword and leapt into action._

 _With a quick slice to the guard on his right, making the man jump back to avoid the blade, David turned his attention briefly to the other man on his left, crossing swords with him. Strategically, after hearing the guard he had attacked first come up behind him, David dropped to one knee to catch the second falling sword on the two that had already been crossed. Using a short burst of strength, he then forced both swords up and out from above his head and took advantage of one of the guard's arms' position over his head to elbow the guard harshly in the stomach, sending him down._

 _Reacting quickly, he turned and clocked the other man in the nose with his sword hand. Once he assessed that the guard that he'd elbowed was still on the ground, he made quick work of the remaining guard by almost running up one of the nearby posts with his left foot, gaining momentum and using his free right foot, coming out of the leap, to kick the still-conscious other guard right in the face. The force of the kick sent the recipient to the ground, where he stayed, now unconscious._

 ** _Nice finishing touch._** _Orinda snickered._ ** _I'm almost impressed._**

 ** _Told you he had potential._** _Kaya countered._

 _David didn't get to enjoy his victory for long, though, because Bo Peep seemed to decide that she had to take care of him herself now, and had picked up one her guard's swords._

 _The farmer wasted no time in rapidly twisting over his left shoulder, and Kaya was pleased to see none of the earlier hesitance that had plagued his body language while he had trained with Anna. His moves were precise, if not a little inexperienced, and filled with conviction._

 _Anna would be so proud._

 _Still, his newfound confidence only proved to last so long, as within a few clashes of their blades, Bo Peep had David disarmed and on the ground in front of one of her gazebo's pillars._

" _See?" She taunted. "Told you, you can't win."_

 _In the end, though, her arrogance proved to be her downfall, as it only took a moment of inattention on her part to allow David to leap up from his seated position as she brought back the sword she would've used to cut off his head...Leap up and jump behind her after swiftly picking back up his own weapon, holding her at swordpoint._

 _Of course, the reckless move only worked because the foolish woman had_

 _Kaya almost chuckled._ ** _Guess that's that, then._** _She watched David viciously rip off Anna's necklace from around Peep's neck._

 _Host and possessor watched as the farmer-turned-hero used Peep's crook to locate Anna, whom Kaya already knew was in the barn, although the crafty redhead seemed to be lying in wait up in the rafters..._

 _Orinda cackled._ ** _Oh, this is gonna be good._**

 _Shaking her head, Kaya followed David to the barn, where she stayed put outside until she heard the telltale thud!_ _of the princess pouncing on whom Anna had assumed had been one of her unsuspecting captors._

" _Got your necklace back." David said sheepishly, after the shock of being snuck up on had worn off._

 _Anna laughed breathlessly in disbelief. "You did it. You fought and-" She giggled again as she looked at the necklace. "You won!"_

 _David laughed nervously from his place on the ground. "Well, don't be so surprised, it was your idea!"_

 _The princess scoffed. "Yeah, I just didn't think we had the time..." Seeing the confused, but smiling expression on David's face, she added, laughingly. "I mean, I hoped we did. And I had faith in you."_

 _David breathed out, saying reverently, "It was an impossible battle..." He shrugged after a moment. "Which is why I had to fight it."_

 _Anna squinted at the farmer's new-found courage. "What changed your mind?" She grunted as they helped each other stand. "It didn't get more_ _impossible."_

 _Now standing, David sighed as he leaned against a nearby post._

 _The princess looked bashfully at the ground as she muttered, "You barely know me."_

" _I was starting to." David went on, "And what you said about your sister..." He sighed. "I might be able to survive, but...I also have to be able to live with myself, and I can't do that if I'm trapped in a life I don't want."_

 _Kaya shook her head as she smiled, deciding to make her entrance. "Spoken like a true poet." She smirked, quirking an eyebrow. "You kids have fun?"_

 _They both looked startled to see her, but Anna was the first to recover, giving her what looked to be a shrewd look, seeming to figure out what Kaya had done._

 _David laughed, looking fondly at Anna as he addressed the Arendellian captain, "You were right...All I needed was a chance."_

 _Anna looked slightly confused, but she quickly shook it off as she headed to join Kaya in the doorway of the barn. For a moment she paused and then turned to David, saying almost as an afterthought,_

" _Thank you."_

 _The farmer nodded at the girl's gratitude as he wondered what might have become of him if this pair of wayward travelers hadn't stumbled briefly onto his path._

* * *

David slammed the door of the police patrol car, sprinting to the wall of ice, with Hook not far behind him. He wasted no time in calling Elsa on the walkie, frantically asking how Emma was.  
Elsa's voice now portrayed its fair share of panic as she cried, "She's freezing- turning blue!"

"No!" Hook, afraid now that he would lose his chance at a happily ever after before it even began, started to desperately try to chip away at the ice to attempt to get to his love. "Emma!"

David grabbed Hook's wrist, as worried as the other man was, but he had to stay calm, or the woman they both cared deeply for would die. "It's not going to help."

He spoke steadily into the walkie. "Elsa?" He said. "Listen to me, I need you to find a way out."

"I need Anna." Elsa hated how childlike her voice sounded, but she couldn't help being distraught when a woman that she might have had a lot in common with, whom she might have become good friends with, was now about to die because of her.

"Well, we don't have her right now, but we have a way to find her and we will." David hoped that would be enough. "But right now you're going to have to do this on your own."

Elsa shrugged helplessly as she spoke into the device. "I can't control this!"

"I know how you feel." David reassured. "You're trapped...It's a battle you feel like you have no way of winning, but that's what makes it exactly the kind of battle you have to fight, or you'll die."

"No, I won't." Elsa said listlessly. "I'll survive...But Emma-"

"Survival isn't enough." David hoped these words would strike the chord in Elsa that would give her the will to fight. "You have to live."

Elsa looked up. "Where did you hear that?"

"You know where."

"Anna? You knew her?"

"I did. And Kaya too." He replied. "They helped me once, a long time ago, become who I am. Anna saved my life and yours and now I need you to save Emma's."

 _Kaya too?_

"I didn't know much about them, but...They wouldn't want you to live alone in an ice cave, which is where you'll be if you don't melt that ice." At Elsa's pause, David ordered, "Now do it!"

Elsa breathed shakily, knowing she had no other choice than to try to do as Emma's father said. She wasn't about to let an innocent person die because of her fear.

She thought of Anna and her lover...Both so accepting of who and what she was. Kaya would surely laugh if she could see Elsa now, trembling with fear of her own power.  
" _Have we not discussed this before?"_ Elsa could almost hear her saying. " _You control your magic, not the other way around."_

And she knew Anna, while she would try to be helpful to her sister in finding her way if she were here, would also be disappointed in the lack of courage her sister was displaying.

Elsa stood with renewed conviction and raised her arms, focusing on nothing but the sole purpose of her task: to get both herself and Emma out of that damn cave!

As she summoned her magic, at long last of her own free will, the wind began to howl, and after a tense moment, a large hole in the ice across from her began to open up, revealing the relieved faces of Emma's loved ones.

"I can see her!" Hook shouted. "Emma!"

After helping Emma through the newly-made hole in the ice, David, after getting through his relief at the sight of his daughter alive and seemed like she was going to be just fine after she was warmed up, pulled Elsa aside, sighing, "You did it." He praised. "You saved her."

Elsa, as if realizing that for the first time, said, "Yes, I did." After a moment, though, she continued, "But I also endangered her. You owe me nothing."

David shook his head. "I owe your sister and Kaya everything...She's your lover, right?" Going on at Elsa's bashful nod, "And what I said was true, she helped me. Now I'm going to help you. This isn't over; we're going to find Anna."

Elsa laughed for what felt like the first time in years, and she felt just a little more hopeful that this whole mess would work itself out- somehow.

After they got back to where Emma and her parents lived and had begun to warm Emma back to a normal temperature, Elsa remembered that now she not only had she lost her sister (she assumed, and hoped, that her lover was safe and sound back in Arendelle), but now she'd lost her necklace too...Now she had nothing of hers.

When she spoke the thought aloud, David handed her what looked to be a shepherd's crook, saying,

"Then let's find her."

* * *

" _I hope I'll see you both at the wedding!"_

 _Kaya stood back as Anna and Ruth stepped out of the cottage the next morning, laughing slightly when Ruth handed Anna her "early" present, with the princess exclaiming happily that she loved sandwiches._

" _You've changed him you know?" She said, looking back and forth between the two of them._

" _She didn't bring out anything that wasn't already there." Kaya replied._

" _That's right!" Anna agreed. "He was always this way," She looked to her sister's lover, knowing she agreed. "He just didn't know it."_

 _Ruth offered her gratitude, and Anna spoke what both she and Kaya were thinking in that they were glad they helped. She also then took the chance to try to gain more direction on where they should be headed, and asked if the magic, such as the stuff in Bo Peep's staff, was a usual thing around here. Ruth said there was always a bit of magic around these parts, and Anna inquired as to whether there was someone that could've helped her parents, who'd had a problem with a powerful sort of magic, if they'd needed something related to that._

 _Kaya easily sensed Ruth's slight trepidation in answering the question, not because of Anna herself, but of the man Ruth now mentioned that was something of a legend in this land, apparently. He was very powerful, but for some odd reason, the woman refused to say his name aloud...Perhaps names were linked somehow to locator magic that Kaya was unaware of?_

 _Not ten minutes later, she and Anna were headed for the alcove of trees at the end of the clearing, Anna mounted on horseback, and Kaya walking alongside. She heard Anna mumble an odd phrase that must have been the name that Ruth had insisted on writing down for them, rather than just tell them the name aloud._

 _She didn't recognize the name, but she suddenly couldn't shake the feeling that they were now being watched as they rode further and further into the Enchanted Forest._

* * *

Using the crook, Elsa finally had some of the stress that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders be lifted off her. The crook, for some reason, wouldn't (or couldn't?) show her where Anna was, but with the heartbeat that had pulsed through the staff, it seemed to be telling her the most important thing; that Anna was alive.

Sometime later, she and Emma stood once again at the foot of the ice wall Elsa had created, with Emma looking in awe at the power the wall represented.

"You might not totally control it, but this is amazing and unique and..." She scoffed in amazement. "You said you're the only one with this power! Over ice, I mean."

"That's probably a good thing, for everyone."

" _And_ you. I mean, this is kind of..." She shrugged. "Cool."

At Elsa's look, she laughed. "Pun intended."

Elsa smiled. "Well, regardless, there's no need for a barrier anymore." She raised her arms and grinned confidently. "Let me take it down."

Emma respectfully took half a step back to allow Elsa room to work, but even after a full moment or two of Elsa attempting to take the wall down, the ice hadn't so much as shifted.

Elsa sighed in frustration. "Why can't I bring it down? There's no reason this thing should be staying frozen...I'm the only one with this power, I should be able to undo it."

"So what's keeping this thing up?"

* * *

The owner of "Any Given Sundae" pressed a scoop of chocolate ice cream into a waffle cone and handed it to Leroy with a smile.

He thanked her, and then proceeded to ask her whether she lost any merchandise during the power outage.

The strikingly beautiful blue-eyed blonde just smiled mysteriously.

"No." She said softly with a smile, "I didn't lose anything...Just lucky, I guess."

Charmed, and seemingly placated by her answer, Leroy gave a rare smile and left the ice cream shop, not seeing the woman tilt her head almost curiously in his direction.

As the bell attached to the door chimed, signaling her last customer's departure, the woman waved her hand over a nearby melted container of cream, instantly freezing it into sellable merchandise.

Using her pointer finger, she carelessly scooped out a dollop of the vanilla ice cream and proceeded to lick the sweet, creamy substance off the digit.

She leisurely ambled over to one of her freezers, leaning her back against it. Upon impact, the entire freezer and the surrounding area was instantaneously covered in frost.

 _Finally._ She thought, smiling complacently. _I can finally_ _begin._


	6. Rocky Road: Part I

Robin Hood, Leader of his band of Merry Men, walked down the street with his true family...Or so he'd liked to believe, before Regina came into his life. He hadn't meant to fall in love again, but what was a man to do when his former true love, his wife Marian, had been his _late_ wife Marian? How was he to know that, at some point in the future, he would have the wife he had thought dead suddenly returned to him and his young son, Roland.

But it was out of his hands. Even if he no longer considered Marian to be his true love any longer, he was nothing if not loyal, and he made an unbreakable promise to Marian on their wedding day. Marian was still his wife, and Rolan's mother, and Robin would not separate the boy from his mother again.

No matter how his heart yearned for another.

"I know this town might seem strange at first," He told Marian as they walked down the sidewalk. "But you do get used to it." He gestured to their son, who was walking on the other side of his mother. "And Roland loves it here. He loves watching the boats at the harbor, eating at Granny's-"

"And ice cream!" The smiling child chimed in.

He laughed. "Oh, yes, how could we forget about ice cream?"

"Can we get some now, please?" Little Roland stopped walking as he asked ever-so-politely.

"Well," Robin started, hating to deny his son anything, but at the same time not wanting to overwhelm Marian. "I think your mother's seen enough strange things for one day. We should get back to the camp."

"Please, mom?" The boy pleaded. "Regina let me!"

Roland, clearly oblivious to the tension that appeared in his mother's demeanor at the mention of his "surrogate" mother that his father had been spending time with while his mother had been away.

Marian, resentful of the comparison, but knowing Roland meant no harm by it, gave a forced smile and consented.

A few minutes later, the shopkeeper, Sarah, came around the counter to kneel companionably in front of the child to hand him his cone of ice cream.

"Rocky Road, for the little man." she said warmly, and handed the second cone to Robin. "And his dashing father."

The boy smiled widely and exclaimed, "Thank you!"

She laughed amiably, "You're welcome."

Robin nodded his thanks, and Sarah turned affably to Marian. "And I don't think I've met the beautiful mother."

Sarah, after being introduced, rose from her kneeling position in front of the little boy and held out a hand for Marian to shake. "It's lovely to finally meet you, Marian. Well, since you've been through such an ordeal, the least I can do is get you something, on the house." She turned to walk behind the counter. "What flavor would you like?"

Marian smiled, but looked a little lost as she admitted she wouldn't know what to choose.

"In our world," Robin explained, "The flavors of ice were dirt- and mud."

The blonde woman chuckled. "In this world," She smiled mysteriously. "We've made some improvements. Trust me," She said, addressing Marian, "There is no problem that can't be solved with a bit of ice cream."

After scooping vanilla ice cream into a cone, Sarah turned away to, as far as the loving family behind her knew, scatter just a few colorful sprinkles on the cone as a garnish.

What they didn't see was the magical wave of the hand as Sarah watched the now-bewitched treat sparkle for a few sparse moments.

Or the brief, pleased smile that accompanied the action.

She faced the family again and handed Marian the cone.

When Robin thanked her for being so kind, she simply responded, "No, thank you. Seeing a happy family, like yours, in here...It really warms my heart."

As Sarah watched the family, smiling and happy, leave her shop, she pondered, almost regretfully, that this family had to be the one to have gained a member so recently, thus being key to her plans.  
They had no way of knowing how unthinkingly ironic her statement had been.

 _She will learn._ Sarah thought to herself, of the girl she had yet to see in person again yet, but whose face she would always remember. _Everyone turns against people like us._

* * *

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've never seen her before in my life."

Not surprisingly, the trio that had come into his shop, two of which knew his history quite intimately, were reluctant to simply take the Dark One at his word.

"So how'd she end up inside your urn, inside your secret vault of terror?"

 _God but this woman was one annoyance after another._ Gold thought to himself.

"Look, if you really want to know how she wound up there, she's standing right there beside you, Miss Swan, why don't you just ask her?"

Elsa answered. "She did. But I can't remember, something's happened to my memories."

"Well, an all-too-common affliction 'round these parts." Gold sneered. "Pity. But as you can see, many objects find their way into my possession." He gestured around his shop. "Urns, necklaces, all manner of things. I can't know the history behind all of them."

"Only if there's something in it for you," Hook chimed in, "Right, mate?"

"Yeah, well, that may have been true once, but recently my life has been..." He glanced at his wife. "Turned upside down. I've lost a son, gained a wife. So you might say I've decided to turn over a new leaf."

Again, Emma was not buying it.

"Don't forget about my superpower; I'll be able to tell if you're lying."

Tiring of the conversation, Gold said. "How about I do you one better? Let's simply have Belle use the dagger on me."

"No!" Belle was startled Rumple would make such a concession to their visitors. She took one of her husband's hands in both of hers. "No, Rumple, you don't have to do that!"

"No, no, no. Miss Swan wants proof," Gold said adamantly. "And I'm happy to cooperate."

Belle sighed. If that was what he wanted...

Gold's wife retrieved the dagger and sighed again, a little bit nervous. Somehow, she knew she would never be completely comfortable with the idea of having power over one of the most powerful beings to walk the Earth.

"I command you, Dark One," She looked intently at her husband as she spoke, looking for any sign of doubt or regret. "To tell them the truth."

Gold replied, relaxed and calm as always, "The truth is, just as I said. I had no idea there was someone was inside there. I know nothing about Elsa, or her sister. But I wish you the best of luck finding her."

Hook could tell right away something was off.

The aggressive pirate that still lived in him couldn't wait to confront the Dark One about it and use it to his own advantage.

* * *

" _So no one has heard from Anna?" Elsa inquired worriedly as she paced the sitting room that had been serving as an impromptu war-room, maps strewn everywhere. "Or Kaya? There's been no sightings from any of the scouts?"_

" _Since you asked me 10 seconds ago?" Anna's fiance replied sarcastically. "Nope."_

" _She's gonna be fine. I've seen Anna fight wolves and snow monsters and that idiot from the Southern Isles."_

" _Hans?" Elsa supplied._

" _Whatever his name is." He brushed off. "Look, the point is, she can take care of herself...And what's more, now she's got Kaya with her. You would trust her_ _to take care of both herself and Anna, wouldn't you? So stop worrying."_

 _It was exactly the fact that her lover was with Anna now that worried her even more. She'd be anxious enough with only her sister out there...But now, with the two most important people to her in the world out there where she could neither see nor protect them herself...She was more uneasy than ever._

" _Well, I can't just sit here, I'm going after them." Elsa declared as she started to gather a map of the region to go after the pair herself, knowing she was being unreasonable, but couldn't seem to help herself._

" _She told me you'd try that," Kristoff made a hand wave that expressed both resignation and exasperation. "And she told me to stop you."_

" _Well, you can't. I'm the queen." Elsa had even used that phrase on Kaya a few times, not that it ever really worked._

" _Which is exactly why you need to stay in Arendelle...As you told her."_

 _Elsa, who had turned away, map in hand, paused._

 _She shook her head and sighed when Kristoff blinked and snapped his fingers as a sort of "a-ha!" gesture. "Yep, Anna was right. Logic and reason do_ _work on you."_

 _He decided he would push just a little farther to make sure the queen didn't go getting any more ideas. He crossed his arms as he took a half step forward._

" _Right now, your kingdom needs you more than Anna."_

 _A stab of pain ripped through Elsa's heart at the thought that it sounded exactly like something Kaya would say, if she were here._

" _She knows me too well."_

" _It's not hard to see." Kristoff uncrossed his arms and shrugged as he leant his weight on the table. "You're a softy...Beneath that 'Oh, baby, I'm the queen' thing."_

 _Elsa rolled her eyes, giving him a look that said she was trying hard to figure him out._

" _Why is it your compliments are so...aggravating?"_

 _Most people would've either laughed or been offended, Kristoff did neither, instead saying,_

" _Well, I start out that way, but you'll warm up to me."_

 _Elsa tilted her head and gave him a resigned look, conceding to the point._

 _The door behind them opened to reveal one of her generals, Loren, that was helping take over in Kaya's absence._

" _Your Majesty." He bowed quickly. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, but we have news from one of our scouts."_

" _Have you found Anna and the Captain?"_

" _No, but they discovered something else in their search." He handed her a piece of parchment, Elsa's expression hardening as she read it._

 _Kristoff, sensing the change, asked what it said._

 _Elsa reluctantly answered. "There's an army massing in the Southern Mountains, heading for Arendelle...They're being led by Prince Hans."_

 _Kristoff, understandably surprised, recovered quickly as he offered,_

" _Well, I know every inch of those mountains. Let me sneak up there and see what he's up to."_

" _I didn't realize the Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer got a say in matters." Loren chimed in._

 _Elsa replied with a sigh as she headed back to the table. "He doesn't."_

" _You're not going anywhere; it's too dangerous."_

" _Oh, there you go, warming up to me." Kristoff teased. "You do_ _care."_

 _Elsa couldn't believe he was trying to make fun._

" _My sister wants a wedding. It is probably best if the groom is alive._ "

 _Kristoff brushed off her concerns. "So I'll be real careful."_

" _You're staying right here." Elsa said resolutely. "As you said, I'm the Queen of Arendelle. So let me be the queen, and handle it."_

 _The mountain man could only hope "handling it" was as easy as Elsa made it sound..._

* * *

Mary Margaret, formerly known as the Princess Snow White, held baby Neil in her arms as she started a meeting she had organized to address the townspeoples' questions and concerns. Everything was going well until she mentioned the fact that the ice wall surrounded the entire town...Then everything started to fall apart. People began to shout and argue about what should be done about Elsa and the ice wall. Just when she thought she and David had been able to get the meeting under some semblance of control, Marian swooned and collapsed out of nowhere, a line of white streaking through her hair.

Mary Margaret wasn't torn between her feelings of worry for Marian, and the sensation of relief that at least the meeting appeared to be over.

Robin, not knowing who else to turn to, ran to find Regina, whom he found at Granny's with Henry. After bringing her back to her former office, Regina crossed the room to examine the wife of her true love...and the spell that afflicted her.

But not before making an offhand jab at Snow's horrid taste in art.

She didn't need more than a moment to feel the magic surrounding Marian before stating that the magic was extremely strong and that she couldn't stop it, but she might be able to slow it down.

Her examination of the spell was halted when Emma, Hook and the woman in blue with the ice magic, Elsa, entered the room.

"What happened?"

"Perhaps you should ask your new friend?" Regina snapped. "After all it was her ice monster that attacked Marian."

"Well, to be fair, we did provoke the beast." Hook conceded.

Elsa sensed right away the difference in her magic from another's.

"But this isn't my magic. Someone else did this."

Regina raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh, and we're supposed to just trust you?"

"You can trust me; if she says it was someone else, it was."

The former Evil Queen supposed she couldn't argue with that one.

"So, how do we break the spell?" Henry asked.

"The only way to cure a freezing spell is an act of true love."

Regina saw immediately where this was headed.

"True love's kiss..." She sighed.

Robin looked to Regina, seeing her turn away, and knew this would hurt her, but he wouldn't stand by and watch his wife die if there was something to be done about it.

Still, when he placed his lips upon Marian's, without effect, it was determined that the cold was acting as a barrier, preventing true love's kiss from healing the afflicted Marian.

Regina tried to reassure the increasingly agitated Robin, with Emma leaving to find the one who cast the spell, telling Hook to take Elsa to the sheriff's station.

"Once people get word of this, they're gonna be calling for her head." She said.

"I'd rather save yours than hers...There's someone dangerous out there."

Emma, feeling trapped and under the assumption that now everyone thought she was weak now because she'd had a few too many slip-ups in the last few days, couldn't help from snapping at him.

"I don't have time to argue about this with you. Can you, for once, just do what I say?"

Hook, startled by Swan's unusual bossiness (not that she wasn't always bossy), was forced to watch Emma leave before he could think of anything to say.

* * *

" _Even if they had enough men to storm the castle, I'd freeze them before they reached the gates."_

" _He's posturing." Loren said. "Prince Hans is seeing what you can do."_

" _And he knows how to defeat her." Kristoff's out-of-breath voice called from the doorway._

 _Elsa and her three generals looked up from the map of Arendelle they had spread on the table._

" _Kristoff. Shouldn't you be..." Elsa shrugged. "Somewhere else?"_

" _I-" He shrugged. "Should be. I was! Uh..." He gave up. "I went to go spy on Hans, okay?"_

 _Elsa pursed her lips in irritation. "You disobeyed me."_

 _It wasn't a question._

 _The Ice Master waved off her disapproval. "Punish me after I tell you what I found." He crossed to the map. "There's an urn hidden in a cave in the North Valley. It has the power to trap people like you."_

" _People...like me?"_

" _With magic." Kristoff clarified. "Hans wants to use it against you and then invade Arendelle."_

" _Your Majesty, if this is truly his plan," Loren cut in. "Let us take the fight to him."_

" _No. I will not risk that many lives." Elsa refused, even knowing what Loren was saying was exactly what Kaya would have, had she been present. "There has to be a way to avoid war."_

 _Kristoff stepped in. "I know the valley, the cave, the shortcut that they don't...Let me bring a few soldiers, and I will destroy the urn."_

" _You can bring one." Elsa said, an idea already forming in her head. "Me."_

* * *

"Elsa's the problem." Leroy maintained. "Today it's Marian. Tomorrow she could freeze the whole town!"

"Much as I like to move the hot cocoa," Granny said, her arms crossed. "Somebody's got to stop her."

Archie Hopper, the town's psychiatrist (known in the Enchanted Forest as Jiminy Cricket), had been skeptical of automatically placing all the blame on Elsa from the start, but now attempted to stop the forming angry mob by trying to talk some sense into Leroy.

"Wait! You can't just condemn her without all the facts."

"Look around." Leroy said. "Who else can turn people into popsicles? It's Elsa, and we all know it. So she's got to be stopped before she hurts someone else."

Archie wasn't so sure Elsa was definitively the only one around here with the ice magic...after all, in a town like Storybrooke, anything was possible. Besides, hadn't they thought that magic like Elsa's hadn't been "possible" only a few short days ago? Was it so far-fetched to everyone else that there just might be a second person in Storybrooke with the same power?

Sure, it sounded unlikely, but in Storybrooke?

Unbeknownst to all of them, Sarah Fisher stood from editing her chalkboard sign outside her shop just as the group strode passed.

None of them looked back, thus it was impossible for any of them to see the sinister, knowing smile that appeared on her face as she watched the disillusioned mob march for the death of someone they barely knew, and had already condemned to death without so much as a trial.

 _Soon, my darlings._ She almost laughed. _Soon, we'll all be together, and then you'll see..._


	7. Rocky Road: Part II

" _Did Hans say anything else about the urn?" Elsa asked. "Anything at all?"_

 _They walked through the woods at a brisk pace, with Kristoff leading the way, constantly alert for anything (or anyone) that wasn't supposed to be there._

 _It had taken a fair bit of convincing for Thomas, Loren and the last general, Amund, to allow her to accompany Kristoff on his quest to destroy the urn...Something about how the Captain would "fry them alive" if they allowed anything to happen to her...But Elsa wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, and soon she and the Ice Master were on their way to the ancient urn._

" _Just that it can trap people like you and that it's really, really old."_

" _Do you understand what that means? There must have been others like me...I always thought Kaya and I were alone."_

" _You_ _were never alone." Kristoff disagreed. "You had Anna."_

" _And I love her, but...we're not the same."_

" _Yeah, no, I got that." Kristoff stated in his usual sarcastic manner._

" _You know what I mean." Elsa sighed. "We're sisters, and I love her, but I have this...magic. You should understand, I mean, you grew up with rock trolls."_

 _Kristoff shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. "So?"_

" _So, you're human and they're, you know...rocks."_

 _He scoffed. "They're family."_

 _Elsa rolled her eyes. As if that explained everything._

" _They just wanted what was best for me," He stopped as they came to a clearing, using his arm to move branches from a bush that was ahead of them out of the way. "I guess I never really felt alone."_

 _Elsa sighed wistfully. "I wish I could see it like that."_

 _Kristoff suddenly shot forward to grab Elsa's arm to prevent her from falling off the cliff that she hadn't noticed had appeared, as engrossed in their conversation as she'd been._

" _Welcome to the North Valley." Kristoff chuckled. "The cave is about 100 feet straight down."_

 _Elsa raised her hands confidently, asking if he would prefer a slide or a spiral staircase._

 _Kristoff gently reminded her that if they used magic, Hans could see it and be right on top of them. No, he suggested, they should use something a bit more...rustic._

 _Elsa rolled her eyes as the mountaineer proceeded to fling the edge of a rope down the side of the canyon._

 _Rustic, indeed._

* * *

 **Emma, still peeved that everyone now seemed to think she needed a babysitter (what with getting herself blown away by a snow monster and getting stuck in an ice cave...), trudged through the forest, David closeby as they searched Robin's camp in hopes that they would find some kind of clue as to who had cursed Marian, since they knew it wasn't Elsa.**

She was surprised to hear what sounded to be the clanking of pots and pans coming from one of the tents and she drew her gun, demanding that whomever was inside come out. He was young, maybe mid-twenties with a buzzcut and a distinctly unhappy expression. The guy seemed very used to the put-your-hands-up routine, because he had his palms up and facing Emma in perfect experienced-con behavior.

"Who the hell are you?" Emma demanded. "What are you doing in that tent?"

"Well, depends who's asking." The stranger drawled in a Northern English accent.

"The sheriff's asking." Emma snapped.

"Never did like sheriffs very much." As a result of his accent, the 'much' came out sounding more like 'moch'. "Though you do seem like the decent sort, so I'm guessing you're not gonna shoot a man in the back."

In the moment it took for Emma to understand what the man was talking about, the dolt turned tail and ran in the other direction. Emma gave chase, but he was just about to outrun her when David came out of nowhere and tackled the guy to the ground.

" _Two_ sheriffs?" The boy-man whined as David hauled them both off the forest floor. "Bloody 'ell. That's not even fair, is it?"

"Who _are_ you?"

"All right!" The man shook off David's grip. "My name is Will Scarlet. Used to be a Merry Man until me and Robin Hood had a bit o' a fallin' out."

He'd barely finished speaking before Emma asked, then, what the hell was he doing in Robin's tent.

"Well, I 'eard what happened to Marian!" He glanced at David, who was keeping a close eye on Will in case he tried to run again. "Terrible thing." Looking back at Emma, he said, "But I kind of know something that might help."

"Robin's not here right now, so tell us."

"Look, I'm a thief!" Will exclaimed. "Always been a thief, always gonna be a thief. And when there's a blackout like the other night," He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels like a child, looking to the ground. "You know wha' a thief does?"

"He goes to work." Emma supplied.

"Exactly! So I'm working me way down Main Street, when I break into the ice cream parlor and I see the strangest thing..." He paused, as if for effect. "There'd been no electricity for hours, but still all the ice cream was frozen solid."

David and Emma were sure their surprise was plain to see on their faces.

"Now-" Will continued. "How does something like that 'appen?"

There was only one way to find out.

* * *

Elsewhere, Hook and Elsa were on a hunt of their own for a clue as to who the caster of Marian's curse was, and where they might be hiding.

They entered Gold's shop because, according to Hook, if anyone knew of a way to find the culprit behind Marian's freezing spell, it would be the "Crocodile". Elsa busied herself with casually inspecting some of the items Gold had on display in his shop while Hook and Gold spoke quietly for a few moments.

Finally, Hook declared that Gold had agreed to help (Elsa hadn't pegged the pawnshop owner for being so readily helpful, but she didn't argue), and Elsa held out a lock of Marian's hair out to Gold.

"Someone cast a freezing curse on her." Elsa said as Gold took the lock of hair. "We need to know who it is."

Gold inspected the lock of hair for a moment and then said quietly,

"Well- you're in luck. Magic can change forms but never be destroyed..." He tilted his head. "We'll simply return it to its natural state."

With a wave of his hand, the older man had changed the lock of silver hair into a scattering of pristine snowflakes.

"Magic similar to yours, dearie." Gold said, addressing Elsa. "Though not quite the same. Much like a snowflake, each person's magic is unique."

"Poetic," Hook cut in sarcastically. "How does that help us?"

"Well magic seeks out like-magic. So if I set this free..." He blew softly into the fluttering of the snowflakes, sending them onto a path towards the doorway. "It should find its way home. Back to the person who cast it."

* * *

"I don't know. Looks pretty normal to me."

"It was bleedin' cold in there, I'm tellin' ya."

After getting into the shop, Emma and David stepped behind the counter, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Emma noted that there were no sounds of a compressor hum, which implied there wasn't a cooling system in the building.

"Smartass over there was telling the truth."

"Check the back." Will prodded. "You'll see 'ow right I am."

The room was entirely frozen over; no wonder none of the ice cream had melted. The state of the room could only mean that the owner of "Any Given Sundae" likely had magic just like Elsa's.

Which also meant that whoever had been running that ice cream parlor had just hit the top of their suspect list.

* * *

"What _are_ you doing?"

In the process of following the snowflakes, Elsa had watched as Hook, time and time again, marked various trees along the way using his tool of a limb.

"Leaving a trail." Hook said as he turned to start walking again. "I'm more accustomed to outrunning bad weather than following it."

Elsa followed. " _Snow_ isn't bad." She disagreed. "And we're following magic."

"Try to outrun that too, given the chance."

At Elsa's laugh, Hook asked what was so funny.

"It's just that Emma has magic and you clearly don't want to outrun _her._ "

Hook glared. "More like the other way around." He admitted grudgingly.

"Maybe she feels the same way about pirates as you do about magic."

"I've worked to change." Hook said, puffing his chest with pride. "Although, in fairness, being a pirate is not necessarily a bad thing; particularly a charming one- like _meself_."

"I think your self-appreciation is blinding you to a simple fact- this isn't about you." Elsa smiled, but replied with honesty. "It's about her."

"Is that right?" Hook said disbelievingly. "A few short days, and you know Emma so well?"

"We're a lot alike." Elsa gave a slight sigh. "When you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, it can be hard to let people in...To trust them. Even when they want what's best for you."

She knew that was true even for the most emotionally stable person, even when they didn't have magic thrown into the mix. Kaya wasn't a queen, but she was one of the most logical and stable people Elsa knew...And Lord knew how long it took to convince Kaya to let _her_ in...

Hook looked at Elsa, as if seeing her in a new light for the first time.

He hated to admit it, but maybe the woman had a point.

* * *

 _Elsa and Kristoff entered the cave._

" _There's the urn!"_

 _It wasn't hard to spot, it was placed in a crevice in a large boulder in the center of the cavern._

" _See?" The Ice Master couldn't resist the opportunity to gloat just a bit. "I told you we could beat Hans the old-fashioned way!"_

 _Elsa sighed, but she was smiling; at least they'd found the urn and could now destroy it before it could be used against her in battle._

" _Do you mind if I use my magic now?" Elsa's tone was clearly sarcastic. "Or would you prefer to hack away at it with your ice axe?"_

. _Kristoff, ever-good-natured, scoffed at the light-hearted jab and rolled his shoulder._

" _You know, my hacking arm is a little tired..." He gestured dramatically towards the urn. "I think you should do the honors, Your Majesty."_

 _Elsa bit back a laugh. "Why, thank you, Ice Master."_

 _The queen stepped forward, with Kristoff following close behind with the torch, and Elsa picked up the urn from out of its resting place._

 _The moment her fingers touched the urn, ice began to form on the surface of the container, revealing an inscription of some sort._

" _Wait..." She whispered. "There's something written here! I think these are ancient Futhark runes..."_

 _She lightly traced over the writing with the tips of her fingers, but eventually sighed in frustration and turned to Kristoff._

" _I can't read it; what do you think it says?"_

 _Half-joking, but also half serious, Kristoff responded. "I don't know- 'Dangerous Urn: Keep Away!'" At Elsa's look, he shrugged. "Just a guess. Does it matter? Let's just destroy it and get out of here."_

" _What if it can tell me whether there are others like me...I'm the only one in my family born with magic; I'd like to know why."_

" _Elsa, I know you want answers." Her future brother-in-law said placatingly. "But right now, we can get rid of that urn for your own good, and Arendelle's."_

 _Elsa sighed and said stubbornly, "I want to know what it says...I might not get another chance."_

 _Kristoff reached for the urn. "Elsa, you have to trust me on thi-"_

" _No!" Elsa snapped, holding the urn out of his grasp as she glared at him. Part of her knew she was being unreasonably stubborn about this (that's what Kaya would've said), but she couldn't help it. What if there were others like them out there?_

 _Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the cave, and Kristoff and Elsa turned to see Hans and three of his brothers appear in the cavern._

 _Hans motioned to the urn as he nodded to his brothers, "Get the urn."_

 _Two of his brothers tried to flank Elsa's left, but she quickly immobilized them with a few choice ice spears- pointed threateningly at their throats._

 _While Elsa was distracted, the third brother tried to come at her, but Kristoff jumped in front of her, blocking the blow with his axe and fighting him off._

 _Kristoff won the battle with Hans' brother, but unfortunately the last kick that sent said brother down for the count also left his back wide open to Hans himself._

" _Enough, witch." Hans was clearly addressing Elsa. "Unless you want your sister to be left a widow."_

 _Even with a sword trained on the back of his neck, Kristoff managed to muster enough sarcasm to scoff,_

" _You know, technically, she wouldn't be a widow...We're not married yet, so-ow!" His sentence was cut short by Hans pressing the weapon closer against Kristoff's neck in annoyance._

 _Turning his attention back to Elsa, he demanded, "Hand it over." When Elsa hesitated, he lifted his sword hand only slightly, but it was clearly intended as a show of conviction._

" _Now."_

* * *

The ice magic that Elsa and Hook had been following had finally led them to a small grove in the western part of the woods. The snowflakes settled with another bunch of snow that had been created apparently by the same person that cast Marian's curse. Nearby, there appeared to be a miniature replica of an ice castle, akin to the one that Elsa had built herself. They didn't look exactly alike, but the similarity was unmistakable.

"I'd say we're on the right track."

Elsa agreed, but then she saw what looked to be a woman in a pristine white gown step in front of the small-scale castle. Hook told Elsa to get down and used an odd-looking device to tell Emma where they were and that they had found the person who froze Marian.

After taking a closer look at the woman, Elsa commented that she didn't _look_ evil.

"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving, love, so let's just stay out of sight." He gestured to the woman in white. "I haven't a fondness for icebergs and I'd rather avoid being turned into one."

Still, Elsa couldn't help but be fascinated by her...Just who was she, what was she doing in Storybrooke, and most importantly:

What, exactly, was she after?


	8. Rocky Road: Part III

" _Elsa, don't." Kristoff said. "It doesn't matter what happens to me, just don't let him have it."_

 _Hans made to force the sword through Kristoff's throat-_

" _Wait!" Elsa cried. "You can take it; just let him go."_

" _Elsa!" Kristoff protested._

" _I'm sorry, Kristoff, I should've listened to you and destroyed it when I had the chance." Elsa's voice wavered as she spoke. "I didn't trust you before which is why I have to trust you now." She looked pleadingly into the eyes of her future brother-in-law. "You have to find Anna and save Arendelle."_

 _Elsa reluctantly handed over the urn and Hans shoved Kristoff into the custody of the brother that Anna's fiance had downed._

 _He chuckled, and then took a moment to gloat to his brothers about how right he'd been._

 _After he'd had his fun, he looked back to the Snow Queen in an almost pitying manner._

 _If Elsa hadn't known better, she might have thought he actually felt sorry_ _for her._

" _You don't belong in this world." Hans baited. "You don't belong anywhere. Which is why I'm going to put you somewhere where it's like you don't even exist."_

 _Elsa's eyes watered, though she didn't sob. Having someone, even someone as deeply mean-spirited and callous as Hans, tell her what she had secretly believed all these years._

 _Hans held off the top of the lid to the urn and they all watched as a milky white liquid came pouring out of the urn and started moving, almost as if by its own volition, towards Elsa._

" _The citizens of Arendelle will cheer when I take their kingdom because they'll finally have a real ruler, and not a monster," Out of negligent spite, he added, nodding up at her with a smug half-smile. "Like you."_

 _Elsa could stop the one tear that fell at Hans' cruel statement as she glared with pure contempt at the man who had tricked her sister and left her to die, and had tried to kill Elsa- twice now. And it looked like this time he would succeed in his endeavor._

 _The white substance that they all believed would trap Elsa bubbled and churned like a wave on the ocean as it approached Elsa's feet. She took in a sharp breath as it neared within a foot of the hem of her gown._

 _At the last moment, the mass turned sharply and instead gathered on Elsa's left side, the group watching in amazement as the liquid started building higher and higher upon itself, eventually gaining a humanoid form. Just when they thought the transformation was over, the statuesque white form crystallized and instantaneously shimmered into a real person- a woman._

 _The beautiful, older woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties, had blonde hair that was bound in a bun at the nape of her neck, delicate tendrils let loose, framing her face._

 _Though they were all thinking it, Kristoff eventually was the one who spoke up, commenting,_

" _No one thought to check if it was empty?"_

" _What's going on?" Hans demanded. "Who're you?"_

 _The woman hummed. "From what I just heard, I think you'd call me a 'monster'."_

 _With that simple statement, and a flick of her wrist, the newcomer turned Hans to ice, sending the rest of his brothers running with but a glance._

 _Amazed, Elsa turned to the stranger._

" _You- You saved me." The question 'why?' was all but implied._

" _I know from experience," The woman said simply. "No one should be trapped in that urn. Especially someone as special as you."_

 _Without looking at him, the woman raised a finger and inquired, pointing at Kristoff, "Who is this?"_

" _It's okay, he's okay." Elsa said hastily, fearing the woman was about to turn Kristoff to ice as well. "This is Kristoff." She turned and gave him a grateful, if apologetic, smile.  
_ " _He's my friend."_

 _The older blonde looked skeptical, but said nothing as she lowered her hand. Kristoff blew out a relieved sigh when the other woman's magic-wielding hand was brought down to her side again._

 _Boy, was he glad that_ _was over._

* * *

Hook and Elsa only watched the woman stare contemplatively at the miniature ice palace for a few moments longer before he declared softly that they should find Emma and report what they'd found.

They'd only made it a few steps before Hook's step faltered. He and Elsa looked down to see a patch of ice steadily growing around the pirate's foot, rendering him immobile.

"I'm sorry." A voice said resolutely from behind them. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave."

Elsa demanded that the other woman release him from the ice.

The older blonde looked completely unruffled by Elsa's sudden show of aggression and calmly walked casually towards Elsa, then passing her.

"Not when you and I have so much catching up to do." She continued, in a softer tone. "My sweet Elsa."

Hook's tone sounded understandably irate as he asked if Elsa knew the newcomer.

"I've never seen her before." Elsa breathed.

"You've simply forgotten."

"I wouldn't forget someone like you." Elsa denied, slowly taking the woman's appearance in. "Like...me."

"The magic of the rock trolls." The other ice-user explained, almost casually strolling back the way she'd come, as if for no reason at all. "They pull memories. And they did quite a number on you, I'm afraid."

"But why would they do that to me?" Elsa asked.

"The same reason they did it to your sister, Anna." The woman said. "Some memories are too painful."

"You know Anna?" Elsa, in her desperation to find out more about what had become of her sister, quickly moved towards the unknown woman. "What happened to her?"

"The same thing that happens to every ordinary person." For the first time, the stranger seemed to lose her cool just a bit, almost snapping out the words, but then the edge turned into a soft, melancholy tone as she said, "Eventually, they grow to fear us."

She took a calculated step closer to the blue-clad woman. "You wonder...How you ended up in that urn." The woman's eyes met Elsa's unflinchingly. "It was your sister."

Elsa looked on in disbelief of what she was hearing.

The other woman looked strangely concerned for Elsa. "Anna put you there."

"You're lying."

"Am I?" The stranger maintained calmly. "Look at the people in this town, they're ready to burn you at the stake."

"Because of what you did," Elsa shot back. "You hurt one of them!"

"You mean that woman...Marian." The woman furrowed her brows. "Well, that was an accident."

Elsa briefly bought the statement, but something in the older woman's expression gave her away.

"No, it wasn't." Elsa shook her head as she glared. "You wanted them to think it was me, to blame me...Why?"

The other woman seemed to give up on her weak deception, because she shook her head, almost looking as if she were about to cry as she let out a shaky sigh.

"I was trying to teach you a lesson." She gave Elsa a caring, sweet smile before she turned from Elsa and slowly faced where Hook was still stuck standing in the same position he'd been in for the past few minutes.

"Eventually," The woman continued in a mystifying manner that implied she was thinking of past events, "Everyone turns on people like us. Even friends. Even family." In the same contemplative tone, she uttered, "They're just waiting for a reason."

She waved her hand, and a row of large, sharp-looking icicles appeared over the pirate's head, as if to emphasize her point.

Elsa threw up her hands hurriedly to attempt to stop the woman from what she was about to do.

"Don't bother. I've neutralized your magic." The stranger said after taking a breath. "When your friend is found, you'll look responsible, and then they'll turn on you. They'll treat you as the monster that they truly see you as, and you'll know that I'm right."

" _No!_ " Elsa cried as the woman began to wave her hand back in a gesture that would release the icicles onto Hook's head.

" _Hey! Dairy queen!"_ No one but someone from that particular realm without magic would understand the jab, but all the inhabitants of the clearing, including the two ice-users, turned at the voice, the older of the two blondes freezing at the sound of it.

"Emma?" The stranger whispered in shock.

Emma, currently mostly preoccupied with the icicles that were hovering dangerously over her boyfriend's head, shot back an irritated, "Do we know each other?"

"Of course not." The woman's voice sounded much more stable now, as if she'd just wrested back control over her emotions. She slowly lowered her arm to her side. "Your reputation precedes you."

Elsa looked back and forth between Emma and the newcomer, a mere spectator in their current staring match.

"You really think your magic is a match for mine?" The older woman sounded almost amused.

"There's only one way to find out." Emma, without further preamble, shot a blast of unrestrained magic at the woman, knocking her back and into a nearby tree. The shock dazed her enough to allow for David to rush forward and try to free Hook from the constraints of the ice along his boot.

The distraction didn't last long, however, as the woman quickly recovered and quickly released the icicles from where they hovered, and the rest of the group watched in horror as they began to fall.

Thankfully, Emma was able to think on her feet and managed to shove her father and boyfriend out of harm's way with her magic just before the icicles had a chance to hit their intended target.

But it was too late. By the time they recovered, the woman was long gone, with only a few sparse tracks left on the hill the strange woman had previously occupied as evidence she had ever been there at all.

* * *

 _Elsa and her new friend, whom had identified herself as Ingrid, strode happily, side-by-side, into the same sitting room she and Kristoff had debated the risks of going to find the urn themselves not a day before._

" _Have you made a snowman come to life?" Elsa laughed jubilantly. "That's the best!"_

" _Have you tried building an ice palace yet?" Ingrid inquired, a wide, delighted smile on her face._

" _Yes! You have to see it sometime." Elsa skipped as she spoke, she was so happy to have finally found someone like her and Kaya...and what's more: she had ice_ _magic, just like her!_

 _Ingrid giggled and then took a good look around, breathing in as if something had shaken her, not in surprise, but as if she was remembering something._

 _A look that grew even more pronounced as she caught sight of a grand portrait that displayed Elsa's parents in all their royal finery, standing side-by-side and giving small smiles to the artist._

 _When Ingrid didn't respond, Elsa noticed what had grabbed the older woman's attention._

" _That's my favorite painting of my parents." She said, casually making her way past the fireplace and closer to the portrait, where Ingrid stood, staring at the painting with an unreadable expression on her face. "I feel like it gets my mother's smile just right."_

 _Ingrid looked over at Elsa as she spoke, coming to stand by the queen. "I agree."_

 _They pondered the painting together for a brief moment before Elsa asked with a smile,_

" _You knew her?"_

" _Yes." Ingrid paused, unsure as to how to properly relay what she would say next. "She's my sister."_

 _Elsa's mouth fell open in shock._

 _Ingrid hastened to explain. "I knew, when you told me you were queen, I-" She sighed. "I was waiting for the right moment; I-I didn't want to overwhelm you...D-did I?" The usually confident and self-assured older woman looked painstakingly insecure at the thought that her niece wouldn't believe her when she said they had familial ties with one another._

" _No..." Elsa shook her head, realizing that wasn't true. "Well, a bit, yes. Mother never told me she had a sister..."_

 _Ingrid's face contorted briefly into an expression of pain, but she quickly veiled it with a sad smile. "I'm sure she was trying to spare you a very painful history." She gestured between them with her hands. "Y-you see, I was trapped in that urn by people who fear magic, like ours."_

 _But then she smiled. "But that was a long time ago. And now I cannot wait to see my beloved sister again...Where is she?"_

" _Lost at sea." Elsa hated to have to tell her. "I'm sorry."_

 _Ingrid regarded Elsa with sympathy and compassion. "My poor, darling girl." She said, shaking her head. "You must have felt so lonely when she died."_

" _It was just me and my sister, Anna." Elsa gave a half-shrug, but one painful memory gave way to another as she was reminded of the predicament her lover and her sister had found themselves in. "But now she's missing, and I fear something has happened to her too!"_

" _We'll find her." Ingrid said, her voice unwavering and calm. She nodded to her niece as she smiled reassuringly. "Together. That's what family is for."_

 _Elsa, despite all the stresses that had weighed on her mind lately, smiled back in gratitude and relief that she had found someone to help her not only find her lover and sister, but that could possibly help her learn more about herself as well..._

 _She gave a watery smile. Things are looking up._

* * *

Regina gazed solemnly at the face of Marian, which was now made solely of ice. Her head came up as she heard Robin walk through the door of her former office.

"Roland is with Little John now." He sighed sadly, referring to his small son, whose mother now lie prone on the couch as almost solid ice. "I only wish I could tell him I did everything I could."

The former 'Evil Queen' sighed in empathy as she studied the man she was in love with. "Even True Love's Kiss can't solve every problem."

But Robin shook his head. "There's a reason that kiss didn't work, and it's not what everyone thinks."

She knew he referred to the fact that people had assumed that the kiss hadn't worked because the cold spell surrounding Marian was acting as a barrier that disallowed the counteracting magic of the kiss through to the victim.

"I'm in love with someone else."

"You...you are?" Regina's expression turned from one of shock, to immensely flattered and happy at his words. But as quickly as the warmth from the notion that her love was requited had filled her heart, it just as quickly disappeared as the severity-and reality- of their situation dawned on her.

"Yes," He responded with a melancholy smile, filled with longing. "But-"

"I know." She cut in, her tone a bit less bitter than it might have been, if only because she now knew who truly held this man's heart. "I know...you have to go back to her; she's still your wife."

 _This wonderful, loyal man._ This man, who was willing to honor his marriage vows even if his heart now belonged to another.

He'd believed his wife had been killed...How could he have predicted this?

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

He looked on as Regina sighed longingly. The situation was effectively out of their hands, with nothing more to be done or said on the matter.

They both looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching the office.

"You really need to clean that vault out." Henry said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood a little. He was positive that what Regina had asked him to pick up from her vault would save Marian.

If his adoptive mother said she would do everything in her power to help Marian, then she would...Even if Marian _was_ the only thing standing in the way of Regina and her happily-ever-after.

Henry gave a secret grin of pride in his other mom. That was just the sort of person she was now.

Regina ignored Henry's light-hearted jibe and asked Robin, "You're sure you still want me to do this?"

Robin answered in the affirmative and she went to work, trying hard not to dwell on how much she really should _not_ be enjoying this part of the plan.

She was a changed woman, damn it.

With a shaky exhale, Regina plunged her hand wrist-deep into the chest of the frozen woman lying prone on the couch. When her hand emerged, she held Marian's still-beating heart in her hands. She was _really_ trying not to think about how easy it would be to just crush her competition's life right then and there and be done with it. But her newly-thriving conscience wouldn't allow it.

Not to mention the man before her, the man she would die for in an instant, would never forgive her for it.

Shaking off her dark thoughts, she commented that at least the ice hadn't seemed to have reached Marian's heart just yet.

"This way, we can keep her alive."

"So she'll stay this way." Robin asked worriedly. "Alive, but- frozen?"

Regina nodded solemnly. "Until we find a cure."

She tilted her head as she gave him an assessing- and not a little reassuring- look.

"And I _will_ find one." The former Evil Queen said resolutely.

At least this part of her she could still indulge, she thought. The part of her that still thrilled at the prospect of the hunt, the scent of a challenge.

 _That_ trait, she mused, she might never be fully rid of.

* * *

Ingrid strode aimlessly through the forest, calmly noting the shadows of the trees as they would flicker as one nocturnal creature or another moved swiftly about in the foliage above her head.

The white-clad blonde stopped in a riverside clearing, sensing a presence behind her.

In a controlled movement that was more motivated by curiosity rather than fear or surprise, she turned to find the Dark One, or Mr. Gold, as her Storybrooke counterpart had come to know him, sitting on a log in a relaxed manner.

"Don't worry, dearie," He drawled. "It's only me."

Ingrid didn't give him a response, as she knew he hadn't been looking for one anyway.

"Sorry things didn't work out the way you wanted." He said in what sounded like mock-sympathy to her trained ear.

"They will." Came her soft reply.

He gave a cunning smirk, as was his way, giving the impression he knew something the other person didn't. "We shall see."

The well-dressed man stood, and Ingrid cautiously turned to fully face one of the most powerful beings that had ever existed.

"And," He said, as if inquiring after the working order of a sold piece. "Did Miss Swan remember you?"

An unadorned 'No.' was all the response he received in return.

"That's good for you," He continued, "Because it could happen. And you wouldn't want that, now would you?"

The comment sounded eerily close to a blatant threat, but Ingrid didn't rise to the bait.

"Are you sure," He furrowed his brows together in what he probably hoped was a concerned facial expression, but all he managed was a faint sneer laced with condescension. "You don't want my help?"

Ingrid didn't beat around the bush, as she responded evenly, "When I'm ready to make a deal, I'll come to you."

"A moment I eagerly await." The Dark One conceded. "Now you should find some shelter," His tone held a distinct, taunting note to it. "It's getting quite frosty."

This man, she knew, was well-pegged by the pirate's coined nickname for him, 'The Crocodile'. A sly, deceptively lethargic-moving predator, it was easy for the creature to fool unsuspecting prey into thinking he was less of a threat than he actually was.

Such was the way, she suspected, that he made the majority of his deals in the past. In her experience, he avoided lying outright and always presented the facts and hypothetical outcomes in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.

His true villainy, however, lay in that the miscreant was merely not above preying majorly on those desperate enough to ignore the possible (and so often, quite likely) negative consequences of their actions.

Which was why she believed she was well-equipped to deal (both literally and metaphorically) with this man. He wanted something from her and knew that she wanted something from him, but she wouldn't allow him to dictate terms. She would seek him out when she was ready.

And not before.


	9. The Apprentice: Part I

_A long time ago, in a chamber buried deep beneath the surface, an old man swept the ever-dusty floor, a menial task that belied his true purpose for frequenting such a dismal place._

 _A purpose far more momentous than sweeping the dirty ground beneath his feet._

 _The old man looked up as the torches that lit the gloomy place suddenly, and without cause, went out._

 _Sensing he would need it soon, he drew the sword that was secured to his waist, murmuring,_

" _Show yourself, Dark One."_

" _You..." A raspy voice accused. "Are not_ _the Sorcerer."_

 _The old man did not want to dignify anything the Dark One said with a response, but his master had taught him well._

" _No." Raising and holding his sword in a defensive stance, he bowed cordially without taking his eyes off the hooded figure before him. "I am his apprentice."  
The Dark One held a curved silver dagger that dangled, almost casually, between his two foremost fingers. Engraved on the blade, in haunting calligraphy, read the name "Zoso"._

 _With a lift to his head, the Apprentice regarded the other man in a calm but solemn manner. "And you are not the first Dark One I have faced."_

 _The Apprentice moved forward and, in one downward slash, thought to bring down or at least keep at bay the dark monster before him._

 _But it was not to be. Before the cold steel ever made contact, the hooded Dark One seemed to evaporate into thin air, appearing again behind the Apprentice as he turned around._

 _The old man made to try again, but the hooded figure raised a gloved hand and a transparent wave of magic shot forth, knocking the Apprentice from his feet and onto the floor. He looked up and watched as the hooded man approached the dias where the box awaited._

" _You don't want to know what you'll unleash," The Apprentice gasped. "If you open that box."_

 _A gloved hand reached up and pulled the hood free from the head of its owner, revealing the scaly countenance of the face underneath._

" _Then the Sorcerer should not have put his faith in someone like you." Zoso sneered, turning back to the dias where he waved the dagger with his name engraved on it through the air above the short, cylindrical box._

 _He was soon to eat his words, however, as the box responded to Zoso's dark magic by suddenly erupting in magical oscillations that threw the Dark One off the dias and onto the floor beside the spot where the Apprentice had lay not moments before._

" _Fortunately, Zoso," The Apprentice tried not to chuckle with mirth. Such was not professional. "I am not the only thing he puts his faith in."_

" _An enchantment!" Zoso growled in frustration._

" _Cast by the Sorcerer himself." The Apprentice explained as he bent to pick up his fallen sword. "And no one who has ever succumbed to the darkness in their heart can ever break it."_

 _The Dark One glared as the Apprentice sheathed his sword and commanded him to be gone._

 _And with an angry wave of his hand, Zoso did just that._

" _Every Dark One has tried," The Apprentice murmured as he gazed blankly at the space Zoso had just occupied, "But no Dark One will ever possess what is in that box."_

Mr. Gold stared soberly at the box no Dark One before him had ever been able to touch, let alone open. But as he waved the dagger over the air above the box and watched it transform itself into a translucent hat with more than one galaxy of stars adorning it, a self-satisfied smirk found its way to his face.

 _I do so_ _love being first._

* * *

It was no surprise to Elsa that Emma and the pirate were going on their first date, what with the way they were always looking at each other. She imagined that the suppressed adoration that was exuded from the couple was reminiscent of they had finally admitted their feelings for each other.

Mary Margaret had been inordinately helpful so far, her motherly nature permeating into everything she did. That was especially true when the little prince, Neal, was in the room, but that was a given.

"Census records from the first and second curses." Mary Margaret said as she all but dropped three relatively thick, rectangular books on the kitchen table with a _thud!_ "If Anna was ever in Storybrooke, we'll find some trace of her here."

A grateful smile appeared on Elsa's face as she looked over the books. "Your curses are very...thorough."

"That's just 'A' through 'E'." Mary Margaret deadpanned.

"Here's the rest of them." David dropped the rest of the census record books on the table and Elsa's somber thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Emma, who had finished getting ready and asked the group in her kitchen their opinions on the rose pink, knee-length dress that had an off the shoulder cut that flattered the blonde beautifully, and her parents all but said so, though not in so many words (Mary Margaret's exact phrase was a simple, unadorned 'wow').

After a bit of light-hearted teasing from her family, Hook (or 'Killian', as he had insisted on being called from then on) arrived to pick up Emma for their date. He even had gotten his hand restored, saying the Dark One had indeed changed his ways. The pair made a quick escape, with Emma wanting to avoid David giving Hook the 'overprotective-dad-speech', which, considering the context, Elsa was pretty sure she knew a thing or two about trying to intimidate potential future spouses for her most beloved (not to mention _only_ ) sister.

David closed the door and glanced over to Mary Margaret. "I wasn't too hard on him, was I?"

"You should have seen me when Kristoff started dating Anna." She raised her eyebrows in what she was sure Kaya would refer to as a 'queenly' expression of both pride and a complete lack of remorse for said self-satisfaction for making the man her sister had fell in love with fear for his life. "It's the only time in my entire life that I've ever made someone _sweat._ "

David chuckled as his wife kindly put in: "Speaking of which, let's see if we can't find out what happened to your sister."

Elsa couldn't agree more; it was time to get to work.

* * *

 _After travelling many miles to the infamous 'Dark Castle', as the locals called it, although Kaya had heard the place called far more insidious names, all of which she mentioned in passing to Princess Anna, in a last-ditch attempt to change her mind about going to see this 'Rumplestiltskin'. Ever since they'd learned of the man from Ruth, Kaya had made it a priority to find all the information she could on the man, especially since Anna had now convinced herself that this man was the one to see if they were to get any answers on why the late King and Queen would have been in the Enchanted Forest to begin with._

 _From what she could tell, Rumplestiltskin could be trusted on one thing and only_ _one thing, and that was that he wasn't to be trusted at all. He was, she'd heard, a dealmaker and collector of magical items, which sounded like a dangerous combination, to be sure. Magic, in her experience, always came with some kind of drawback._

 _Rumplestiltskin's only merit, from what she could gather, seemed to be that he was clear about what said disadvantage would be, but he conversely had no qualms about taking full advantage of someone's desperation, especially if it served his purpose._

 _Kaya wondered if Anna had even considered the possibility that she would be forced to deal with this man in order to gain the information she wanted...Kaya had run into and had dealings with men fitting Rumplestiltskin's personality description before, but Anna hadn't, she was sure._

 _If she had, surely Anna wouldn't be quite so unconcerned and flippant about going to see a man that every person Kaya had talked to called a 'black-hearted fiend', though sometimes not in quite so many words._

 _Though, granted, none of these similar men had ever been magically inclined, but that fact, in her opinion, was what made this Rumplestiltskin all the more incalculable. Someone like him, in her mind, at least, might not be inherently_ _evil, though that was certainly a possibility, but he didn't sound like the sort of man to do anything for nothing. Anna needed to be prepared in what, if anything, she was willing to offer if Rumplestiltskin decided he would only help her for a price._

 _The bullheaded child just would not see reason._

 _Which was why Kaya had finally thrown up her hands and tried not to snap at the impetuous child as they made the last few miles to the Dark Castle._

 _She would be on her guard, even if Anna wasn't. They had no idea what this man was capable of, but if he was even half as greedy, ruthless, and mind-blowingly powerful as Kaya had heard...She was damn right to walk into that castle with her senses on alert and her head clear. Her pulse was calm, but her eyes quickly took in any and all escape routes she could use if things got out of hand._

 _A pool of dread settled in her stomach, however, as Kaya considered the very real possibility that the greatest threat that rooted from Rumplestiltskin would almost certainly not be of a physical variety. Magical contracts were not something she could just swing a sword at or burn to a crisp at will...Contracts laced with magic were a threat of a much higher caliber...It wasn't possible for them to be thwarted or wished away quite so easily._

 _Kaya only hoped she would be able to keep Anna safe, even from obstinate princess' own judgement, if need be._

 _They finally made it to the castle and Anna called out to see if Rumplestiltskin was there. A surprisingly chipper voice bade them to go all the way down the hall and enter the first room on their right._

" _Come on in, dearie." The voice was...haunting, somehow. Haunting in a way that had the hairs on the back of Kaya's neck standing on end, even though the voice's owner hadn't yet done anything threatening to her charge._

 _He knows who we are._ _Orinda stated in Kaya's mind. He knows who we are, what we want, and, most importantly for you, dear, what he wants from us in exchange._

 _You can already tell all that from a few words, can you?_ _Kaya asked point-blank._

 _Please, dear._ _Orinda scoffed. You don't live as long as I have without picking up a few tricks._

 _If this guy's got half as many tricks up his sleeve as I'm sure you had back in your day, then we might actually be in real trouble here._

 _The fire demon didn't respond, but Kaya had no doubt she was observing the scene before them play out with just as much rapt attention as she._

 _Anna walked into the room and towards a high-backed chair facing away from them, presumably seating the master of the house, as she introduced herself as Joan._

" _I was hoping you could help me..." Her voice trailed off as she got her first good look at the face of Rumplestiltskin._

 _Kaya followed close behind the princess and was curious as to what had the usually long-winded young woman so tongue tied._

 _Needless to say, the effect didn't last long._

" _Is there something wrong with your skin?"_

 _Kaya closed her eyes in exasperation. She was no expert on politics or diplomacy (that was Elsa's job), but there was nothing like making a clumsy, inconsiderate comment to one of the most powerful magic users in the region._

 _They were most definitely in trouble here._

 _Fortunately, Rumplestiltskin didn't seem the least bit phased at Anna's careless glib of the tongue, and proceeded to cut off the ramblings Anna was quite prone to when she realized she had made an error in an articulation. Cut her off quite efficiently, in fact._

" _Your name," He smiled as he held up a forefinger. "Isn't Joan."_

 _Told you._

 _Kaya internally rolled her eyes at the sound of Orinda's gloating._

" _You see, names are my stock and trade, dearie." Rumplestiltskin said jovially. "And yours is...Anna of Arendelle."_

 _Anna looked surprised she'd been figured out so quickly, but to her credit, she didn't say a word._

" _No need to keep secrets from me." The scaly-faced man went on. "I know more about you," He leaned in close, as if to make his point. "Than you think."_

" _Then..." Anna gave a nervous chuckle. "You know why I'm here?"_

" _You want to know," Rumplestiltskin raised his forefingers in a theatrical motion. "Why your parents ventured into this strange land."_

" _My sister thinks it's because of her, but I know she's wrong." Anna said as she rolled her eyes. "Can you help me?"_

" _As it happens," He stepped closer as if to impart a great secret. "Your parents paid me a visit on their journey!" He strode past Anna and made a lazy about-face with a bright smile Kaya was sure he meant as a way to put people more at ease, even though all it did for her was set her teeth more on edge. "It would seem, when one needs answers, I'm the place to go!"_

" _What answers did they seek?" Anna asked earnestly._

" _Well, I can't just tell you, dearie." Rumplestiltskin turned around and strode a few steps in the opposite direction as he spoke. "You see, aside from names, I also have a penchant for making deals."_

" _A deal?" Anna inquired. "Sure, I'll make a deal; I'll do whatever it takes to help my sister!"_

 _Kaya fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Gods, this girl._

 _Rumplestiltskin let out a high-pitched giggle that gave Kaya the impression that Anna's response had been just the one he had been looking for._

" _Whatever it takes?" He laughed as a tiny bottle was conjured into his palm from out of nowhere. "I do love it when they say that."_

 _Here we go._ _Kaya thought, trying to shake off this sense of foreboding that whispered that things were about to get worse._

" _At the foot of the Dark Mountains," Rumplestiltskin continued, "Lives a very old man. Prickly sort, probably eats children for breakfast. I want you to put this," He gestured with the small bottle. "In his tea."_

" _What will it do to him?" Anna asked apprehensively._

 _Rumplestiltskin refused to tell her, which Kaya could only assume meant trouble, and then proceeded to conjure their contract out of thin air. He set it on the table in front of them and turned to Anna with a quill for her to sign with._

" _Sign this," He announced. "And I shall tell you why your parents came to see me."_

 _Kaya nearly groaned. It was an awful feeling, being forced to watch a scenario play out in front of your eyes and know that it spelled trouble, but unable to do a blasted thing about it._

 _Now she knew how Orinda felt on a daily basis._

 _And if Kaya had had any doubts about misfortune that contract was sure to mean for both her and Anna, Rumplestiltskin sealed with his next statement._

" _Do we have a deal?"_

* * *

 _Kaya had done everything short of grabbing the youngest Princess of Arendelle and flying straight back to their home to persuade Anna to reconsider so recklessly signing the scale-faced man's contract. She was apparently convinced she knew what she was doing._

 _Still, Kaya had her doubts as they now stood at the foot of the mountains, at the cottage that was right where Rumplestiltskin said it would be. Anna just stood there, anxiously examining the liquid inside the bottle as if by magic (pun intended), it would be revealed what the substance was._

 _Kaya had no clue what the murky liquid inside the bottle was. She wasn't even sure she wanted to know. All she knew was that their new magical acquaintance was unpredictable at best._

 _It could be poison, could be something else. Either way it meant Anna was now magically bound to make sure the man drank the contaminated tea, or face the consequences._

 _Gods, what_ _in hell was Kaya going to tell Elsa when she returned home? Although that thought was quickly resolved, as Rumplestiltskin would most likely try to harm Anna for not keeping up her end of the bargain, and then Kaya would have to die before that had a chance of happening...so Kaya, all things considered, was never going home if Anna didn't go through with this._

 _Which Kaya already knew she wouldn't. Anna was soft-hearted, and while it was admirable to not want to poison (or worse, for all they knew) someone for their own gain, it would also be wise to consider such a fact before_ _signing a contract that literally obligated one to fulfill the deed, or else._

 _Anna finally knocked on the door and, after a few greetings, a handful of stuttered replies and more than a couple awkward pauses, Kaya and Anna were admitted into the home of the old man that lived at the base of the mountain._

 _Truth be told, the man seemed nice enough, but that didn't strike Kaya as odd. Rumplestiltskin obviously had his reasons for wanting this man indisposed (or dead, as the case may be), and he didn't seem the type to put his faith in a physically average Anna when it came to taking down a formidable enemy._

 _Unless there was something that Anna could do that Rumplestiltskin, with all his power, hadn't been able to do._

 _The thought struck a chord with Kaya, as it suggested that there might be much more to this old man than met the eye, if someone as powerful as Rumplestiltskin was unable to do something as simple as poisoning the man's tea on his own._

 _Still, all of that was moot if Anna failed to hold up her end of the deal._

 _Now that_ _did strike the Captain of the Snow Queen's Guard as odd. Rumplestiltskin was apparently immortal, so he had to have had more than his fair share of planning three steps ahead. What did he intend to do if Anna failed? Wasn't there a backup plan of some sort?_

 _Kaya had taken to standing out of the old man's way as he'd begun sweeping the dirty ground with a well-used broom. But when she heard Anna ask the old man if he took sugar, referring to the tea, Kaya felt a wave of unease come over her._

 _Anna had asked the question in a tone that was reminiscent of a relieved sigh, which Kaya knew Anna would not have breathed, had she done as Rumplestiltskin had asked._

 _She hadn't poured the liquid in the tea. Kaya held back a sigh of her own. For better or worse, she and Anna would soon find out what Rumplestiltskin's idea of a 'Plan B' looked like._


	10. The Apprentice: Part II

The Apprentice: Part II

 _"So, you poured it in the tea?"_

 _Anna nodded, confident Rumplestiltskin wouldn't be able to see through her lie. "Just as you asked!"_

 _Kaya wasn't so sure. The scaly man had something up his sleeve, she just wasn't sure what it was yet. The powerful magic user sat lazily in his chair, his crystal ball resting on the table in front of him._

 _"And he drank it?"_

 _"Every last drop."_

 _He let out a maniacal giggle. "Good! Then he'll live!"_

 _Kaya squeezed her eyes shut. She'd figured there was more going on here than had first appeared._

 _Anna didn't pick up on the nuance quite so fast. "So now can you tell me why my parents came to- Wait, what? What do you mean, 'live'?"_

 _Rumplestiltskin seemed nonplussed as he explained. "He'll live because he drank the antidote you gave him."_

 _"Antidote to...what?"_

 _"Poison?" The word, while not phrased as a question, precisely, still came out in the tone of someone who was convinced the person they were speaking to wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer._

 _"I thought it_ ** _was_** _poison!" Anna cried despairingly._

 _Another mad giggle. "No, the poison's what he drank yesterday!"_

 _Anna looked on in horror as Rumplestiltskin continued. "What you had was the cure for that."_

 _When the princess despondently confessed that she hadn't given the old man the liquid, Rumplestiltskin looked less surprised and, rather than incensed that his orders hadn't been followed, he bore the countenance similar to that of a small child that had just had his favorite toy taken away._

 _"Well why not?" The whined 'awww' was implied in his tone of voice. "We had a deal."_

 _"We need more antidote!" Anna cried desperately, although Kaya doubted it was going to be quite so simple. "We have to go back to the cottage; we have to help him!"_

 _"I'm afraid it's far too late for that, dearie." With a wave of his hand at is crystal ball, an image of the old man appeared. Within moments, he had doubled over in pain and then, with a puff of purple smoke, had been transformed into a mouse._

 _Rumplestiltskin snickered. "You should have listened to me when you had the chance."_

 _Now why wasn't Kaya convinced that was simply going to be the end of it?_

* * *

 _Anna, and by extension Kaya, hastened back to the old man's cottage, Anna running in and mumbling to herself that he had to be around here somewhere..._

 _"Careful you don't step on it!"_

 _The gleeful voice made them both turn to see Rumplestiltskin standing in the very same cottage, smiling in his way that suggested he knew something the pair didn't. When Anna maintained that they had to find the mouse and change him back, Rumplestiltskin replied that he couldn't._

 _"Why?"_

 _"Er- Because I don't want to."_

 _Which was a good an answer as any, Kaya supposed._

 _"He was guarding something that I need."_

 _"_ ** _You_** _were the one that poisoned him!" Anna accused. A delirious giggle was the only affirmation she received._

 _Anna sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Then why did you send me here with the antidote if you wanted to turn him into a mouse?"_

 _"Oh, it was never about him." Rumplestiltskin waved off. "It was always about you."_

 _"It was all a_ ** _test_** _?"_

 _"And one you performed admirably." Anna rolled her eyes again as he continued, "You see, he's but the first line of defense. And what he protects is also guarded by an enchantment. A spell that can only be broken by someone who has been tempted by their inner darkness...and turned away from it- Someone just like you."_

 _ **Obviously, because of the two of you, it really would have had to have been the little princess, huh, dear?**_ _Orinda laughed._

 _"I knew you wouldn't do it." The imp said as he turned to slowly pace away like he had a habit of doing. "I knew you'd see the best in the old man."_

 _"I never faced my inner darkness." Anna argued confidently._

 _"What?" Kaya could tell that Rumplestiltskin was making a theatrical effort into trying to look surprised, but he didn't seem all that shocked to her._

 _"As soon as I met the old man, I knew what I had to do." Anna contended. "I could never hurt someone to get what I want; Elsa wouldn't want me to. So I was never even tempted by this 'inner darkness' you speak of."_

 _Kaya watched the trickster very carefully as Anna spoke. His expression gradually changed from being theatrically shell-shocked to a sly smile that practically screamed, 'But you will...'_

 _But Anna seemed to wrapped up in her speech to give any notice to the switch in Rumplestiltskin's demeanor._

 _"In fact, I don't even think I have one," She scoffed haughtily. "I'm- unlike you- nice."_

 _Rumplestiltskin seemed to take extreme amusement in her statement, rather than offense._

 _"Well, then, dearie, I hope you're gonna enjoy spending the rest of your life locked up in my tower!" He took a malicious step forward. "It was part of our deal."_

 _With a snap of his fingers, he summoned their contract into his hand._

 _"But I have to get back home to Elsa!" Anna cried._

 _"Then you should never have left home in the first place."_

 _The situation was, admittedly, starting to worry Kaya, who hardly ever worried about anything (sans Elsa). Now that Rumplestiltskin sounded like he wasn't going to let Anna out of reneging on their deal (not that she'd expected him to), Kaya was going to have to come up with something, and fast. He liked making deals, perhaps she could find something to offer him in exchange for Anna's freedom? She was snapped out of her musings by Rumplestiltskin's voice._

 _"Imagine the guilt she will feel," He said, referring to Elsa. "When you don't return home from your journey. A journey you only took because of her. She will finally become that monster," He leaned in, whispering wickedly in her ear, "Everyone fears she is."_

 _He gasped mockingly as he quipped, "I guess the wedding's off."_

 _The charlatan was baiting her...The question was why. What was he waiting for?_

 _Kaya soon had her answer._

 _The moment Rumplestiltskin had turned his back on Anna, contract still in his hand, Anna grabbed a sword off the nearby wall and pointed it threateningly in Rumplestiltskin's direction._

 _Anger, along with desperation, were the easiest emotions to not only educe, but also manipulate. Kaya knew this from experience (it was how she provoked an incentive to fight out of her warriors, not to mention her enemies)._

 _"Rip it up!" Anna commanded. "Rip up the contract now!"_

 _"Well, I can't do that, dearie." He shot back. "No, I'm afraid the only way for you to escape your fate is by killing...me."_

 _He stepped forward so that the tip of the sword was pressed squarely against his chest._

 _"And we both know you're just too..." He paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right word, then settled on the ironic, "Nice."_

 _Anna took a step back and straightened her arm in a position that would be easiest to put all her weight behind any potential thrust she made with the sword._

 _ **Time to step in.**_ _Kaya decided it was high time to cease being merely a spectator in this charade._

 _Kaya had serious doubts it was possible for someone as devious as Rumplestiltskin to be killed by a simple sword that had no magic imbued in it. But even if Anna made the choice to drive the sword through his chest and he came out unscathed, she still wouldn't be able to live with that decision. Making that choice had to be harder for someone as pure-hearted as Anna than it ever had been for Kaya. But that was why she wouldn't make this choice for her. Anna had to make this decision for herself without any interference. Still, Kaya knew that Elsa would be disappointed if she didn't at least try to talk her down. Kaya wasn't sure she could do that (pigheaded as Anna was, whatever choice the girl made she was bound to stick by it), but she could relate her experience, if nothing else._

 _The fire user placed a gentle hand on the shoulder of the heavily breathing princess, so as not to startle her, but neither was her hand in any position to stop the sword if Anna leaned forward._

 _"He wants to stop us from going home!" Anna nearly sobbed, uncharacteristically hysterical._

 _"I know," Kaya murmured. "But however hard this decision is, you have to make certain that you can live with the outcome. Can you do that?"_

 _Anna made a very unladylike growl of frustration and Kaya stepped back, content to allow the princess to proceed how she may._

 _Rumplestiltskin had watched the exchange with interest, perhaps wondering what the bodyguard would do at the idea of her charge killing someone. He the proceeded to repeatedly attempt to goad Anna into running him through, all but shouting '_ ** _Do it!_** _' over and over again, until finally the stress of the situation overwhelmed the princess and she slumped to the floor. Kaya caught the girl under the arms as she fell, and settled her on the carpeted ground, huddled and shaken, but safe._

 _"You really would've let her do it." Rumplestiltskin addressed Kaya for the first time, and seemed relatively unruffled, considering he had just bluffed with his life not moments ago._

 _"I was in no position to change her decision one way or the other." She replied calmly, never taking her eyes off her charge. "I'm simply here as a bodyguard. Her physical safety is my priority; her emotional state is entirely up to her."_

 _Kaya shrugged. "I was just making sure she understood what the consequences of her actions would be this time around."_

 _Rumplestiltskin gazed at her with something akin to respect before turning to the girl on the floor, who had started to shed silent tears._

 _"You may never have considered dosing the old man," He stooped to eye level with Anna. "But you just thought about killing me."_

 _One of Anna's tears trickled down her cheek. Kaya tensed as Rumplestiltskin held his dagger directly in the path of one of the princess' tears that dropped off her left cheek. His signature giggle permeated the room as he drew the dagger back from Anna's face._

 _"And now I have exactly what I need: the tear of someone who has faced their inner darkness...and turned away." He regarded Anna with a strange look; Kaya suspected he might be feeling something akin to wonderment of someone performing an act he had (obviously) found it very difficult to do. Doing the right thing didn't seem to be something he completely understood, but neither did he seem to particularly care._

 _"The love of your sister was all I needed."_

 _"I should've known." Anna spat. "I should've known the moment I met you; you're a monster!"_

 _The rogue didn't seem at all affronted by the accusations of the princess._

 _Anna's breath came in shaky gasps as a result of her crying. "You take the most precious thing in this world, love, and turn it into a weapon."_

 _"Love is a weapon, dearie." Rumplestiltskin replied guilelessly. "Always has been. It's just..." He swiped at the air above an empty alcove in the house with the hand holding the dagger, opening a trapdoor that had been previously hidden beneath a layer of straw. "So few people know how to wield it."_

 _With that, he disappeared into the hidden room, and Kaya let him go as she stooped down to Anna's level to get a better look at her face._

 _"You alright?" Anna seemed appalled at what she'd almost done, even if she didn't say so._

 _"We all make mistakes, Anna." Kaya said, utilizing the rare use of only Anna's first name to get her attention. "Luckily, you avoided making one that we both know you would've regretted for the rest of your life, so good for you."_

 _Interestingly enough, there was not a trace of sarcasm attached to the end of her statement._

 _"He's a monster; he tricked me, tried to goad me into killing him!" Anna whined like a child._

 _While Kaya felt sympathy for the girl's plight, she couldn't resist the metaphorical 'I-told-you-so'._

 _"He knew you better than you knew yourself, though gods only know how he managed that." Kaya sighed. "Though, next time I tell you to think twice before putting your life in the hands of someone you've barely met, perhaps now you'll listen, hm?"_

 _The lecture, however short, didn't seem to brighten Anna's mood very much, but Kaya knew the princess well enough to be able to tell when she just needed some time to herself. Anna put her head on her bent knees and just sat there, Kaya sitting in the spot beside her after a while, just keeping her company._

 _It was then that they both saw the mouse._

* * *

 _A few minutes later Rumplestiltskin came back up the stairs and looked mildly surprised that she and Anna were still in the house and hadn't 'escaped'. Anna then demanded to know about her parents, now that she'd helped him get what he wanted._

 _"Well, dearie," Rumplestiltskin began. "The King and Queen of Arendelle landed on my doorstep with an itsy-bitsy problem: your sister." Anna stepped back as he leaned closer. "They wanted something to take away her powers forever." The redhead eventually backed into the fireplace and insisted that her parents had loved Elsa. With Anna in such close proximity to the reptilian-featured man, Kaya had to restrain herself from swiping an arm in-between the pair to make sure he kept his distance._

 _"Sounded more to me like they_ ** _feared_** _her." He disagreed. "It's a thin line and oh-so-easy to cross. You must have known," Rumplestiltskin stalked the space around Anna, almost herding her so that she was backing away from him again in the opposite direction. "They always wished she'd been born a little bit more...normal."_

 _"Did they find what they were looking for?" Anna asked._

 _"I'm afraid not. No one could lay their hands on that kind of magic-" He raised a cylindrical box that he carried. "Until now."_

 _Anna stared down at the odd-looking object. "So that's what the box does."_

 _"Not the box." He corrected. "What's inside: a hat. Crafted thousands of years ago by a sorcerer for one purpose: to steal magical power. And guarded all of these years by his apprentice."_

 _Kaya shook her head in amazement. Everything about Rumplestiltskin's charade finally made sense, what with who the old man really was and the significance of what he'd guarded._

 _"What are you going to do with it?"_

 _"When the hat has collected all its ill-gotten power, and is fully charged, I will be," He savored his choice of words, as if already celebrating the hypothetical victory. "Unstoppable."_

 _"I thought the Dark One was_ ** _already_** _unstoppable."_

 _He smirked. "There are limits, however small."_

 _"No, you can't. That mouse-" Anna paused, correcting herself. "That apprentice, he dedicated his life to keeping it out of the hands of people like you."_

 _"Too bad he's not here to stop me." Rumplestiltskin gloated._

 _"What if he is?" Anna looked up following her enigmatic comment, prompting Rumpelstiltskin to do the same. The mouse, who had communicated both who Rumplestiltskin actually was and where to draw him, leaped down onto the the Dark One's hand that held the dagger and bit him there, causing him to drop the weapon._

 _Rumplestiltskin threw the mouse from his wrist and made for the dagger, but it was too late; Anna had grabbed it and now held it in front of her protectively._

 _"Don't come any closer!" The trickster immediately backed off from the girl. Anna quickly put together why he hadn't come any closer to her just because she'd told him not to, as if compelled by a higher power. It seemed that as long as Anna held the dagger, the Dark One was magically bound to do whatever demands the holder of the weapon laid forth._

 _No wonder the man had such a penchant for deal-making; it probably looked to him to be a sort of clever irony that his own 'magical contract', if you will, was his greatest weakness._

 _In the moments that followed, Rumplestiltskin confirmed, albeit with extreme reluctance, that the dagger was the reason he wanted the hat; to free himself from his weakness and still be able to keep his power in doing so._

 _"Yeah, I can't let you walk out of here with that." Anna said. She then demanded that he give her the box. It was plain to see the anger and frustration that seeped through Rumplestiltskin's usually blase facade as he did as she bid and handed over the box._

 _"Remember dearie," He growled in a low, threatening tone. "You can't keep hold of that dagger forever." The man's sickly green eyes looked slowly up from the box as he completed his statement. "And you don't want to be on the other end of it when I get it back."_

 _"Then I command that you send us, and this box, home to Arendelle."_

 _"If I must." He ground out. The magically compelled trickster made to wave his hand to summon his magic, but Anna interrupted his movement._

 _"Wait. You can never hurt me." She added hastily. "Or my sister. And you have to turn the mouse back into a man."_

 _The look on the trickster's face was almost comical, with the left edge of his lips give what looked to be an involuntary twitch of dismay as he listened to the redhead's rambled commands._

 _"Okay," The princess sighed after a moment. She straightened and tightened her grip on the box as Kaya stepped up to her side. "Now I'm ready."_

 _The last glimpse of the trickster immortal they had was his strained, irritated expression as he waved his arm lightly around the pair. A purple cloud of magical smoke was summoned and the next thing they knew, they were back in Arendelle, just inside the city limits._

 _Kaya and Anna took one look at each other and breathed a sigh of relief at having dodged what could definitely be considered a metaphorical bullet._

 _One thing was for certain: Kaya would be taking no more frivolous escapades with the headstrong redhead anytime soon._

* * *

 _The princess and her babysitter had just crossed the gates' threshold when Anna insisted that she wanted to quickly find Kristoff before she sought out her sister._

 _Kaya didn't blame her. As much as her heart yearned to see Elsa this minute, her mind, normally quite agile, needed a moment to catch up with the latest turn of events._

 _Even if Kaya approached nearly everything else in life with an outwardly unimpressed, blase exterior, even she wasn't able to just shake off the revelation that her lover's parents had knowingly embarked on a journey intended to change (or destroy, if she was understanding the situation correctly) their eldest daughter._

 _Their kind, gentle, beautiful, heart-meltingly pacifistic daughter that Kaya adored more than the sun above. Just the thought that her theoretical in-laws, though now deceased, had believed their child enough of a threat that they wanted to change the one trait about said child that was at the center of the person's very existence._

 _That notion, however fleeting, made Kaya so furious she had to stop herself from throwing her fist into the nearest wall. A surge of disgust for the couple that would have been potentially been her 'parents' by marriage was, ultimately, the very best Kaya knew she could ever hope for in regards to what her opinion of the late royal couple was._

 _She couldn't even respect the pair for what they'd tried to do. Instead of overcoming their fear and trying anything and everything else to be sure their daughter would never come to be a threat to herself or anyone else, they'd chosen the easiest path; to simply get rid of the 'problem'. Apparently they'd never once considered they'd be divesting themselves of all the good along with the 'bad', because if what Rumplestiltskin had said was true, then there was no way to do away with only one part of the equation; you had to get rid of all of it._

 _The thought of what the disillusioned fools would have potentially done to Elsa when and if they'd returned was more than Kaya could bear. Imprisonment, banishment, execution...the possibilities weren't endless, but there were certainly a fair few more than Kaya cared to think about, especially all at once._

 _She would never, Kaya thought emphatically to herself, ever relate to Elsa that the sentiment that, for the fact that the former King and Queen of Arendelle had never made it back from their misguided voyage, Kaya would be forever (not to mention innately) grateful._

 _She felt a momentary twinge of regret to have such animosity towards Anna and Elsa's parents, but she doubted it would linger._

 _Finally ceasing her internal tirade in front of the sitting room where she'd heard Elsa was at that moment, she rolled her shoulders a bit to try to ease some of the tension from them._

 _Stepping quietly into the room so as not to startle her lover, she caught sight of the snow-infused white-blonde, braided hair and Kaya, as she'd predicted, felt any and all guilt at her previous thoughts fly right out the window._

 _ **Yes,**_ _she thought,_ ** _Very, very grateful._**

* * *

Henry took the descending stairs to his adoptive mother's 'lair' two at a time. He caught sight of Regina before she looked up from the book she was poring over, tirelessly searching for a way to cure Marion, the sole person standing in the way of her happy ending.

"Mom?"

He sometimes couldn't believe how much she had changed. Regina had gone from being self-absorbed in her own motivations and desire for revenge for a miscommunication and an unintentional, indirect transgression committed by his grandmother, Snow White. The careless nature of his adolescent grandmother had led to Regina's lover being murdered in cold blood by her own mother, Cora, who happened to be Henry's adoptive grandmother.

The biological son of the Savior, grandson of the Dark One, adopted son of the Evil Queen had no doubt that Regina had more than earned her chance at a happy ending.

And he would do whatever he could to make sure she got one.

"Find anything?"

Regina shut the ancient and worn tome in her hands with a decidedly irritated 'thump!' "No progress yet."

She sighed. _Why am I even going to so much trouble for this woman anyway?_ She thought. Nothing had changed; Marion was still an obstacle that she could easily ignore the opportunity to save her and simply stand by and watch as said obstacle disappeared...Being 'good' was such a pain in the ass sometimes.

Not to mention Robin would never forgive her if he ever found out that she'd neglected to do everything in her power to make things as they were again.

"Look," Henry said, sensing his mom was in need of a little encouragement. "I know I might not understand everything that's going on between you and Robin Hood. But there is one thing I understand better than anyone else: Operation Mongoose."

He was, of course, referring to the 'pact' he and his adopted parent had made regarding the idea that only the 'good guys' got happy endings, and the fact 'Storybook', which detailed all of Storybrooke's citizens' pasts in a magical picture book (featuring events that had all really taken place) consistently had 'bad guys', such as the Evil Queen, have nothing but misfortune and unhappiness linger in their lives.

The point of their mission was to find the fabled 'Author' (a legendary figure who was rumored to be able to change someone's 'story' by using magical writing) and have him rewrite Regina's story to have a happy ending, instead of the seemingly- inevitable tragedy that someone as 'evil' as Regina deserved, according to the book.

"And I think I've figured out who has all the answers we're looking for."

"Who?" Regina sounded wary at best.

"My grandpa."

"David?" Regina deadpanned, referring to her technical son-in-law by marriage to Snow White's lecherous father. How she sounded now screamed incredulity and disbelief.

"My other grandpa," Henry clarified. "Mr. Gold."

Regina shifted in her seat as she sighed.

"Everyone knows Rumplestiltskin doesn't get a happy ending," Henry went on. "But look at him now! He just married Belle. He must have figured out a way to change his story...Which means he might know who wrote the book."

The former Evil Queen's voice took on a defeated tone as she thought of the mutual hatred she and Mr. Gold had shared, past and present.

"And I'm the last person he'd ever share that with."

"That's why I'm going to find out for you."

"How?"

Henry's smile was as mischievous as it was reassuring to his mom that he would help her no matter what it took. That's what you did for family.

"By going undercover."

* * *

"A job?"

Mr. Gold certainly didn't sound completely opposed to the idea, but it was definitely a bolt out of the blue.

"You know, after school and weekends." Henry used his most innocent demeanor, knowing exactly who he was dealing with and hoping that the infamous Dark One had enough of a soft spot for Henry to eventually get the information he wanted for his mom.

"Now that my father's gone, I realized you're the closest thing I've got to him." Which was true, considering Henry had never really known his father. Neil and his biological mother, Emma, had been involved with each other a long time ago, but never committed to a long-term relationship with each other. So when he told Mr. Gold that he was the closest thing to his father, and Henry valued that fact, he was in no way lying to the Dark One.

But that didn't mean he couldn't still use the information to his advantage.

"But if you don't want me around..."

Henry purposefully turned to leave after Mr. Gold had only listened to his previous statement and not responded at all. Mr. Gold, however, surprised Henry (he hadn't really expected the guilt trip to work so soon, and so well!) by stopping him and consenting to Henry coming in a few days a week to work in the shop, provided he stay out of the back room, and didn't touch anything without asking.

"You can be my apprentice." Mr. Gold wore the expression of someone who had just made a comical reference, but didn't let on to what the joke was, so Henry was left to wonder what his paternal grandfather found so amusing.

"What does an apprentice do?"

Mr. Gold shrugged as he smiled. "Many, many things." He grasped the handle of a broom that had been leaning against the back counter and handed it to his grandson. "First, you can start by sweeping the floor."

Henry said nothing, but took the offered cleaning instrument with a indulging smile as he turned and began to sweep the floor as his grandfather left the room, leaving behind the undercover child to mull over his next thoughts on how to best help his mom get what any decent person deserved a chance at: Her happy ending.


	11. Breaking Glass Part I

_Breaking Glass: Part I_

The Snow Queen stood in the middle of the main chamber of her wintery escape. Before her was a stone table that bore a slab of ice on the surface. She waved her hand and her white-blue magic shone forth.

The blonde paid no mind to the sound of cracking ice as the frozen, formerly shapeless piece of ice began to take shape. White candles burned as she worked, casting what she found to be a pleasant sort of light over her task.

By the time the Snow Queen had finished, the chunk of ice had taken what looked to be the general figure of a person.

She smiled somberly to herself and her mind began to whirl with the next steps of her plan.

* * *

"Emma," Elsa said, approaching the blonde with the envelope she'd found. She and the other woman had spent the morning tearing through the old archives of Storybrooke in hopes that something on this 'Snow Queen' would present itself.

After hours of nothing, finally Elsa had made progress.

"Why are there pictures of you mixed in with the city records?"

"Let's just say that when Regina was mayor she abused her power a bit..." Emma laughed in remembrance. "She was looking for any reason to run me out of town."

Emma looked down at the photos and smiled fondly at the photos that captured memories of some of her first real quality time with her son. Her smile, however, disappeared when she came across one photo in particular: she and the Snow Queen, or 'Sarah Fisher', as she'd been dubbed in Storybrooke, having a conversation of some kind.

The problem was, Emma remembered none of it.

"And you still don't remember any of this?" Elsa inquired, after taking a look at the picture.

"No, but I know someone who may." Emma said. "The person who had the photos taken."

* * *

Regina knew it was only a matter of time before either Sidney, her 'Magic Mirror' (or, more accurately, the man she had manipulated in the past, which made her indirectly responsible for him imprisoning himself in said mirror), or herself found the Snow Queen...But God, did she hate the _waiting._

 _Miss Swan_ had come wandering, asking about photos that Regina had, admittedly, had taken of her when Emma had first come to her town. Emma wanted to know if Regina knew anything about a conversation that Miss Swan had apparently had with the Snow Queen, but didn't seem to remember having it at all. When Regina brushed her off, saying she didn't know anything about it (which she didn't), Emma asked if she knew where Sidney was, since he had been the one to take the pictures in the first place, before he'd been imprisoned in the mirror.

But Regina wasn't obligated to answer any questions this child posed. She was busy saving her true love's _wife._

Emma seemed to accept the explanation and then tentatively inquired after her progress.

"It's no concern of yours." Regina sneered, her attention already fixed back on the tome in her hands.

"It could be?" Regina raised her head, but it was more to roll her eyes than to actually look at the person addressing her.

Emma continued. "I know I'm not sorceress of the year...but if you want some extra juice to undo the spell, let me know."

She turned to leave, but Regina couldn't resist one last barb.

"Are you offering to help _me?_ "

The blonde sighed as she turned around.

"Despite everything, you've done a lot for me, Regina, so yeah. You've had my back, and I want you to know that I have yours."

The former Evil Queen all but snorted at the remark.

"Miss Swan," Regina scoffed. "One thing is abundantly clear: you've _never_ had my back. And you never will."

Emma seemed to take her dismissal for what it was and left, but not without looking back with a sigh and wondering if she would ever be able to make amends with that woman for accidentally ruining her happily ever after...Things between them had never been smooth, but they had been making progress before this whole mess had started.

Elsa believed if they had made that progress before, they could do it again...but Emma wasn't so sure.

However unintentionally it might have happened, Emma had screwed Regina over. And when you screw someone over like that, there's no getting them back.

She knew from experience.

* * *

Elsa sat waiting in Emma's yellow 'Bug' (at least that's what the other blonde had called it; it looked like a hideous form of transportation to Elsa). Emma had gone into Regina's lair to question her about the pictures they'd found.

" _Elsa! Help!"_

All of a sudden, a voice whispered in the wind, a voice that sounded just like Anna's.

Elsa got out of the car and looked deep into the mist that covered the forest beyond the road. She could barely make out the silhouette that looked uncannily like her sister's.

After one more plea for help from Anna, Elsa couldn't bear it any longer.

She took off into the dark woods in pursuit of her sister.

* * *

Regina finally had heard back from Sidney, and, after the simpering mess of a man had tried to make a deal for his freedom from the mirror, Regina had consented to allow him to lead her to the Snow Queen. Using a portable mirror to contact Sidney, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they found the icy troublemaker.

What she hadn't counted on, however, was running into Emma _again._ Apparently the other ice-magic girl had wandered off and now Emma was set to find her...

But why she insisted on tagging along with _Regina_ , was beyond her.

God she missed being evil. At least there hadn't been any strays nipping at her heels.

"Which way?"

"Right."

Emma tried to ignore Regina's prickly behavior, but it wasn't easy, even though she'd known the woman for a while.

"Is this a locator spell?" Emma inquired. "Shouldn't we be following some floaty object, or something?"

"Oh, now you're a magic expert." Regina snapped sarcastically at Emma without breaking her stride.

"No, it's just that in the past-"

"There are many enchantments you have yet to be exposed to." Regina quipped. "If you bothered to study your craft, you'd know that."

"Well," Emma said defensively. "I'm kinda learning as I go, it's not like there are a lot of online classes on this kind of thing."

When Regina didn't respond, Emma pressed on.

"But..." The blonde raised her eyebrows as she shrugged, though she knew Regina couldn't see it. "When you help me, I seem to learn pretty fast."

"I don't have time for lessons." The former mayor snapped.

"I know, I know you're busy...So I think it's really admirable, what you're doing; helping the wife of the man you love."

The girl just couldn't seem to stop talking and quit while she was ahead.

 ** _Well_** _then..._ Regina abruptly stopped walking and slowly turned to face the other woman, her body language speaking of a struck nerve that sparked her old habit of lashing out at whoever was nearest when an event or comment hit a little too close to home.

"So I've impressed you." It wasn't a question. Regina gave a spiteful smile as she sarcastically drawled, "Well, that makes it all worthwhile, then, doesn't it?"

"Why are you doing that?" Emma couldn't understand why Regina was acting this way. "I'm trying to give you credit; I'm trying to be nice!"

Regina exasperatedly raised her hands briefly. "And then what? Complimenting my outfits, giving a makeover, braiding my hair? Calling Robin Hood and hanging up?"

Emma was unable to do anything but stand there and listen to Regina's tirade, which only fueled her guilt at the way things had panned out.

"You're trying to win me over, so I can assuage your guilt for what you've done, but I won't." Regina took a step forward, not enough to be in Emma's personal space, but enough to make a point. "Intentional or not, Miss Swan, you brought Marion back. You ruined my life, and there is no coming back from that."

The short-haired woman took a deep breath. "Because I know you think you didn't mean to. But you hurt someone. So do as I do- learn to live with it."

With that, Regina turned and began to walk again, but not without a parting shot,

"Welcome to my world."

* * *

" _Anna!_ " Elsa called, despair once again creeping at her heart, afraid she would again fail to find her sister.

"Elsa..." There was the whispered voice again, and Elsa looked towards it, her eyes widening as she finally laid eyes on her sister again. She sprinted across the snow-covered clearing and

enveloped Anna in her arms.

"I was so worried I'd never find you." Elsa breathed, grasping Anna by the arms.

A soft voice shattered the moment.

"But I'm so glad you did."

Elsa turned, surprised to find the Snow Queen standing there, looking almost non-threatening, with her hands folded demurely in front of her.

The elder sister stepped in from of her younger sibling protectively, but the Snow Queen just waved her hand and Elsa watched in horror as the figure of Anna turned into pure ice and then melted away.

Then, while Elsa was distracted with watching her 'sister' fade away into nothingness, the Snow Queen waved her delicate hand again, conjuring magical chains that manacled themselves around Elsa's wrists, pulling on her sharply.

"I'm sorry," She said, in that soft, almost soothing way of hers as she approached. "For all the theatre, but...she was never really here, sweetheart."

Elsa didn't hear the endearment that sounded so sincere, as she was looking frantically at the chains that now bound her to the ground.

"I used the illusion because..." The Snow Queen halted her approach, staring hypnotically at Elsa. "I needed you."

"For what?" Elsa felt her throat start to close up in panic.

The chains abruptly yanked her arms in separate directions, forcing her to kneel before the Snow Queen. As the older blonde approached closer, it became apparent that the force of the chains was not by the woman's design at all; it was as if they had a mind of their own.

"Look at yourself." The Snow Queen murmured contemplatively. "So much fear."

She gazed down at Elsa with something akin to pity or compassion. Her voice lowered into a hushed whisper, but she was still heard as she was now so near to Elsa.

"Imagine what you could do if you only learned to control it." The woman's statement was calculated, as if she were speaking from experience.

Elsa could only look up in apprehension as the blonde continued.

"You had a chance to do so once, but-" She scoffed softly. "You squandered it."

The younger woman closed her eyes in defeat at the other's words.

"Fortunately," The Snow Queen shrugged with a small smile. "For me. The more frightened you are, the stronger those chains will hold."  
Knowing it was useless, Elsa began to cease pulling at the chains.

The Snow Queen continued. "And that's all I need..." She said, referring to Elsa's imprisoned state. "For now: you. Out of my way."

Elsa's breathing picked up as she apprehensively watched the other woman come even closer, coming to kneel at her level, so that they were eye-to-eye.

"I would tell you," The Snow Queen whispered as she knelt before the younger girl in an action she seemed to think would be taken as a gesture of comfort. "That everything's going to be fine."

Her hand lifted to cradle Elsa's cheek tenderly in her hand, and Elsa froze, rejecting the contact. "That I won't hurt you."

The Snow Queen lowered her hand. "But your worry," She said. "Your _fear,_ are _exactly_ what's needed right now."

Elsa couldn't figure out why it was so important she stay in one place for whatever the Snow Queen had planned, but she was sure it couldn't be good.

The older blonde leaned back as she stood and began to stroll away at an easy, unhurried pace.

"What are you going to do?" Elsa choked out.

The woman turned around, and, for the first time, Elsa saw a vibrant smile that shone with sincere joy and anticipation as she spoke,

"I'm going to build a snowman."

* * *

"Hurry up, I'd like to find this Snow Queen before it's actually winter!"

Regina and Emma had stumbled across Elsa's snow bridge and had started crossing in hopes of finding Elsa on the other side, when strong gales came out of nowhere. The Snow Queen had found them, and Regina knew there were only so many ways _that_ could've happened.

" _Sidney..._ " Regina growled.

"What does Sidney have to do with any of this?" Emma had to shout to be heard over the wind.

Regina quickly, and, by nature, vaguely admitted that Sidney was not, in fact, missing.

"You lied, you said you didn't have a clue where Sidney was!" Emma accused. " _He was in your mirror the whole time?_ "

"So maybe I did, so what?" Regina snapped as she whipped out the compact mirror. "I don't have to tell you everything I'm doing!"

"Nor do I, Your Majesty."

"You led us here," Regina spat. "You're working for the Snow Queen? _Traitor!_ "

" _I'm_ the traitor?" Sidney drawled. "I think Your Majesty should take a look in the mirror. And as you contemplate what _you've_ done, know: she has a present for you that I would say is...well-deserved."

With that, the man trapped in the mirror faded away, leaving Regina to scream the traitor's name into the howling wind as she angrily snapped the compact shut.

"Regina!"

"Save your moral judgements." Regina snapped, not even sparing Emma a glance.

" _Look!_ "

Regina finally swung her head in Emma's direction and saw what the blonde was indicating: the ice bridge was crumbling, and if they didn't make for the other side _right now,_ it was a long way down to the bottom of the ravine.

Unfortunately, the fact that you were a former Evil Queen and Savior were irrelevant to the basic laws of physics.

* * *

Elsa tugged weakly at her bindings. Her panic had begun to consume her until she closed her eyes and tried to find her center, as Kaya had taught her.

 _Don't be afraid..._

In her mind, Elsa saw herself, and her lover, holding one another close, with Kaya whispering those words in her ear, over and over again, anytime she'd awaken from a nightmare or lose control of her powers during training.

"I'm not afraid." Elsa murmured to herself.

"I'm not afraid." She said again, with more conviction. Elsa felt her breath and heart-rate stabilize and she felt suddenly at peace. Embracing the new-found calm, she inhaled and on her forced exhale, slashed her hands out and away from herself, reveling in the satisfying sound of

shattering chains as they broke under the stress of her power at its most controlled.

Free at least, Elsa smiled at her brief victory.

 _Time to even the odds._

* * *

Regina and Emma, if only barely, made the jump that saved them from a long fall to the ground, but it was only a brief reprieve.

"Regina?" Emma called. "You okay?"

When said woman didn't respond, Emma repeated, "Regina?"

"I...think we have a bigger problem."

Before them stood a giant ice monster, a figure dressed in full battle regalia, complete with a Norse horned helmet and glowing blue eyes. The creature was armed with a battle axe and shield, which the creature clanged against each other in a sort of battle cry.

Unceremoniously, it began to move towards them. Emma skirted through the trees beside the creature, hoping to get a better angle to attack, while Regina, characteristically, stubbornly stood her ground.

With a blast of magic from each woman, the monster was thrown back into a tree, shattering it's right arm. The women didn't get to enjoy their victory for long, however, as the creature grew the limb and weapon right back without so much at blinking an eye.

Well, metaphorically, anyway.

Regina tilted her head in a ' _Oh, come on!_ ' gesture.

"Well, that's a problem." Regina wasn't surprised; Miss Swan did have the irritating habit of pointing out the obvious.

"Not helpful."

"Try again." Emma said. At Regina's look of ' _Really?_ ', she clarified. "Together."

Using both their powers combined, they were able to defeat and destroy the monster with relative ease.

"I think we did it!" Emma said, a smile evident in her voice.

A soft voice broke through her brief victory.

"What a welcome visit, ladies." The Snow Queen said as she stood, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, not ten feet away from the pair. "Thank you, for bringing me what I needed."

She held out her hand and crystals appeared from within Regina's pocket to reform in the Snow Queen's palm; she now held the compact mirror.

Regina stepped forward with righteous indignation. "Give me back my mirror, you-"

"No."

The Snow Queen raised her hand and instantly Regina was silenced, her supply of air being cut off by an invisible hand that the Snow Queen manipulated from not three paces away. Emma attempted to stop her, but she only ended up under the same conditions as her companion.

It was only a shot of foreign ice magic to the chest that sent the Snow Queen reeling back to land on the ground, thoroughly stunned at the turn of events.

Elsa strode forward, her former fears all but a memory, as the Snow Queen lay prone on the ground for another moment. Finally, she stood, gasping, but despite having been surprised at the younger woman's show of power, she seemed elated, rather than incensed.

"Well _done,_ Elsa," She beamed, pride and excitement evident in her voice. "You're losing your fear!"

Elsa continued to distrustfully stare the other woman down, but the Snow Queen was immune to the girl's distaste.

"There's hope for you yet." Unfazed by the potential battle in front of her, the Snow Queen stared unabashedly at Elsa in a way that was almost familiar, endearing even.

"Let's just finish this now." Regina growled, cutting in.

"No need." The Snow Queen replied. "I have what I want."

And with that, a white cloud resembling a mountain's winter breeze enveloped the older woman and just like that, she was gone.


	12. Breaking Glass Part II

Yo! So this chapter will be a little shorter, but putting it all in, in the last chapter just didn't feel right, so here we are. Hope you're all enjoying the new updates, don't forget to review, you know how much I love those! ^-^

Breaking Glass: Part II

The Snow Queen stood calmly, completely in her literal element, in the ice cave that she'd inhabited these last few days. Being alone was never something she'd enjoyed, but she had to admit that it suited her.

Company had never boded well for her...

But that didn't mean she didn't still crave it at times.

As she gazed into the former mayor's little magic mirror, she contemplated everything and nothing; sometimes it was soothing to just allow your mind to be completely and utterly blank, void of any thoughts or feelings or emotions.

"You're free." She heard her voice echo in the chamber as she addressed the only other being in the room. "As promised."

"Thank you." The man sounded sincere, and while most would have turned to try to run after having their dearest wish granted, out of fear that whomever had granted the wish would change their mind, loyal Sidney remained, and instead asked what she would have him do first. It would seem his 'Queen' was no longer the Evil Queen, but now the Snow Queen, instead.

Without turning around, the blonde woman simply said,

"I wish nothing from you."

Sidney, as a former genie, before he had gotten mixed up with Regina, was baffled at the idea that there was someone that wished... _nothing?_ From him. It was simply unheard of.

"I don't understand." He said. "The deal was that-"

"It wasn't you," The Snow Queen gently cut in. "That I wanted, Sidney."

She turned and gracefully lowered herself to sit on one of the many furnishings that she had conjured for herself; what were a few chairs to someone with as much power as she?

"It was the mirror itself." She explained. "You, more than anyone, should understand a mirror's importance."

Gazing down once more, she proceeded to trace the outer rim of the mirror with only the barest tips of her fingers, never touching the glass, therefore smudging it.

"Mirrors reflect our..." She went on, her voice softening evermore as she spoke. "Mood, our desire, our essence."

The Snow Queen glanced up, and though Sidney wore a slightly perplexed expression, she paid it no mind, and instead adopted a look that made it seem as if she were gazing straight through the man standing before her, and into the wall behind him.

"They are-" The blonde paused, searching for the right analogy. "A temporary receptacle for some...tiny fraction of our soul."

After being trapped in a mirror for so long, Sidney, of course, knew and understood exactly what the beautiful woman before him meant. He'd just never heard a human put the analogy to quite like that before.

"Well-" He stepped forward. "You have other mirrors."

"I have many." Her voice, for some inexplicable reason, dropped. It dripped with something akin to disgust, but on what grounds, Sidney couldn't say. "Hundreds. But none as important as this one."

Her words were emphatic, almost obsessive as she tapped the mirror gently to mark her words as she spoke.

"For what I want to do?" The Snow Queen's expression had turned cold again, her voice no longer high and light, but low and passionate. "Your former home should do quite nicely. The person who trapped you in here imbued it with much dark magic."

She trailed off, and if Sidney didn't know any better, he'd think she was glaring at him, but something told him that his new Queen merely got stuck in her own head, and sometimes lost track of the world around her, in light of her own dark memories and emotions.

"My Queen," Sidney spoke with trepidation, as he asked a question he wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer to. "What are you planning?"

"What I'm planning?" There was that tone again. Cold, determined, ruthless, hard, but also haunted. "Is to get what has been denied to me for. Too. Long." She inhaled, but didn't seem to regain any of her former calm. "What I deserve."

Sidney couldn't contain his curiosity; this woman fascinated him. "And what's that?"

Just like that, the passionate, low tone had disappeared, instead replaced with a voice that, with its higher pitch and melodic sound, belied the storm that he was starting to see, always roiled just beneath the surface.

"That's between me and..." She laughed, giving a coy smile. "Well, my reflection."

With a wave of her hand, she opened the door behind Sidney and bid him to enjoy his freedom as he bowed to her one last time before he left the cave.

Sidney didn't understand the Snow Queen's motives, far from it. But there was one thing he did understand. For too long he'd served under a Queen he secretly despised, but had come to know her as she truly was. Such was his curse. His former Queen had never made any secret of her anger, hurt or frustration. She simply allowed her emotions to explode at a moment's notice, a quick burst of passion that destroyed everything in its wake.

But the Snow Queen was much different. No, the difference, Sidney saw now, was the fact that, for whatever reason, this woman had learned to bottle her emotions extremely tightly, to the point of being repressed, if he had to take a guess. Something had happened to that woman to make her force her to have such a iron grip on her sentiments.

It was that sort of woman, Sidney supposed, that held that much more power because she was able to control her actions _and_ reactions to a very fine degree. After all, a passion-fueled response was nothing compared to a cold, carefully calculated one.

It was that sort of woman, he thought, that was not to be trifled with.

* * *

Ingrid didn't wait long after the man had left before she gracefully stepped towards a part of her cave that she had segregated for this exact moment, the small mirror cradled gently to her chest. A pedestal, of sorts, that was destined to hold the most important part of her plan.

Her plan, that would finally gift her with what she had yearned for, longed for, for too many years to count.

With a sweep of her hand, in mere seconds, a large mirror materialized before her, one that was as elegant in appearance as any of the others she owned, she supposed, but none with a purpose so significant, so vital, to her. It also helped that the current appearance of the mirror was shattered, just like her former life had been.

The mirror she had conjured was something of a jigsaw puzzle that she had been working on for many years now. And, at long last, she now held the final piece that would render the mirror flawless.

"So close..." She murmured into the mirror. "Soon I will have what I want."

Using her magic, she purposely broke the small handheld mirror in her palm, levitating one of the bigger, sculpted pieces into the single hole that was left on the landscape of the larger mirror. As the piece joined its brothers, the magic that had been accumulated into the rest of the mirror as a whole finally set in motion the reaction that left the substantially larger mirror flawless.

The former Crown Princess of Arendelle gazed at herself in the newly-finished mirror as she breathed,

"A family that loves me."

* * *

Emma sat in her desk chair at the station, thinking about everything that had happened. She and Elsa had found their way back to Storybrooke after Regina had, predictably, left them to fend for themselves after the Snow Queen had vanished.

Now she had nothing to do but sit here and ponder why ( _why?_ ) she was unable to remember anything about the Snow Queen...how exactly did they know each other?

She'd been an orphan (well, she had thought she was) and had been bounced from foster home to foster home ever since she was a kid. Passing faces were nothing new to her, but she always remembered people who'd made an impact on her, good or bad.

Something told her she wouldn't have forgotten 'Sarah Fisher'...or whoever this Snow Queen really was.

On impulse, she reached below her desk and retrieved a medium-sized, unmarked white box and just stared at it. She wanted to open it, but the contents always made her depressed.

A knock came at the door. "Hello, love."

Now there was a face that she'd usually be happy to see. Right now, though, she just couldn't seem to muster more than a slight smile.

Hook seemed to get the idea, and offered her a drink from the canteen that he always carried around.

Old habits died hard, she supposed.

"You look like you could use it."

"That's putting it lightly." Emma griped as she took a swig from the bottle.

"What's that?" Hook asked, nodding towards the box.

Emma sighed. "What's left of my childhood."

"...May I have the honor?" Hook sounded as if he wasn't sure he should ask, but he did anyway.

Emma stared at him for a long moment, but then gave in. She'd heard the request for what it'd really been: a request to know more about her, to let him in.

She placed the box on her desk and slowly, reverently, rifled through her old stuff. All of the items contained memories or sentiments that her dear to her: her baby blanket (her only link to her parents), a photo of her and Neil, Henry's father, her glasses, a testament to old inhibitions.

Finally, she stumbled on a video camera that she hadn't touched since she'd last used it, which she had thought had been when she had been when she was a teenager between foster homes.

Turns out, she was only half-right. As Emma and Hook stood together to watch the recording, Emma watched as a scene played out in front of her that she'd never seen before.

Or, at least, she thought she hadn't.

The first thing that appeared in the clip was an adolescent boy, who was teasing a younger Emma by saying, " _Look what the new girl brought with her!_ " It looked like the boy had swiped Emma's camera from her, and was showcasing it around the room, which was occupied by other children as well.

"I don't remember any of this."

Then suddenly,

" _Give it back, Kevin._ " A familiar voice called from the screen.

Emma and Hook froze.

 _Holy..._

"Bloody hell..." Hook swore, as they watched the Snow Queen, under the guise of Sarah Fisher, calmly say to 'Kevin', " _The camera is Emma's, not yours._ " Sarah then turned to the younger Emma on-screen and said, with a reassuring squeeze to the girl's arm, " _We respect property in this house, Emma._ "

The woman then strode towards the camera and Emma paused the video. There, smiling out of the television, in broad daylight, was the Snow Queen, in the flesh.

 _Jesus Christ._ Emma thought. _**That's** how she knows me._

Now they knew how the Snow Queen knew Emma, and this would certainly explain why the woman had remembered Emma. Now only one question remained:

Why the hell couldn't Emma remember _her_?


	13. Family Business Part I

Hey guys! So don't hate me, but it's been a while since I updated this story (my god it's been an more than a year ) and I decided that after all this time, I wanted to change Lexia's name to Kaya instead. It likely won't make a huge difference to you guys, but I found that this name flows a little better than Lexia.

Clearly, I've had some trouble tying all the loose ends together while still trying to get Kaya into Storybrooke's storyline without too many plotholes. I think I've got it, but let me know if I missed something.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Family Business: Part I

" _You did_ _ **what**_ _?" Kaya nearly shouted._

 _Her regret at being almost happy (or at the very least indifferent) to the orphaned state of her lover had quickly been forgotten as the Snow Queen had laid eyes on her captain, the queen's resulting smile was enough to make even the most priceless of Arendelle's treasures pale in comparison._

" _You're back!" Elsa had squealed (though Kaya knew Elsa's sister would never believe that if she'd sworn on it), and had torn across the room to leap jubilantly into Kaya's waiting arms, her lover twirling her around in a circle as she was treated to a very rare peal of laughter from the usually stoic woman._

 _Kaya squeezed her tight and they shared a brief, but passion-filled kiss that conveyed all the yearning Kaya was now convinced that they had both experienced in the two weeks they had been apart._

 _Though Kaya had her reservations about omitting any details about her and Anna's journey from the woman who was technically still her direct superior, the fire-user had no idea how Anna intended to handle the impartation of the new information (the princess had taken to being uncharacteristically introspective on their walk from the edge of the city to the castle gates)._

 _As a result, though it pained her, Kaya had been forced to skirt the issue of 'how the journey went' when Elsa asked. In return, she had asked the mandatory question of how everything had gone in_ _ **her**_ _absence. What she had expected to yield a shrug of the shoulders and a negative response to if there'd been any trouble in the meantime had morphed into a slight cringe and wince, as the queen was much less experienced in (successfully, at least) veiling her emotions than Kaya was._

 _Kaya had proceeded to slowly but firmly pry the information out of her suddenly-much-less-talkative lover and queen. When she'd finally gotten the entirety of the story from the blonde (for which she'd had to threaten to go ask her sister's fiance instead), Kaya had taken to pacing back and forth across the room._

" _My god, Elsa." She ran an aggravated hand through her hair. "You_ _ **promised**_ _you wouldn't do anything reckless!"_

 _Elsa wasn't sure what to say. She_ _ **was**_ _sorry that going had nearly caused her sister's fiance's his life and caused her lover to worry about her, but for the act of actually going to find out the truth? Elsa couldn't bring herself to be sorry for that._

" _It wasn't reckless." Elsa fibbed. "I had Kristoff with me."_

 _Elsa knew the moment the words had come out of her mouth that had to be the weakest excuse she could've offered her protective lover._

 _Kaya groaned. "Please tell me you didn't just refer to that man as an adequate source of protection." She paused in her furious pacing to gaze at her lover incredulously. "Elsa, he's barely qualified to protect_ _ **Anna**_ _!" And even that concession could only be made by Anna's flagrant bias towards her fiance._

" _I had to know." Elsa's tone was resolute._

" _Know what, Elsa?"_

" _If there were-_ _ **are**_ _," She corrected. "People like me, like_ _ **us**_ _! I couldn't turn down an opportunity like that!"_

" _Elsa," Kaya sounded vaguely hurt. "_ _ **I'm**_ _like you."_

 _The queen realized what she had implied: that having Kaya around wasn't enough for her, she just had to find others like them to gain some feeling of completion._

 _Elsa opened her mouth, perhaps to amend her statement, but Kaya just shook her head as she sighed lightly and headed for the door. As elated as Kaya had been to finally be able to see and be with Elsa again, she had to sort through her thoughts before she said something she would come to regret._

" _Kaya, wait!" Elsa cried._

" _I'll...see you later, Elsa." The captain turned to face her queen and gave her a look that she hoped conveyed that she wasn't really 'angry' anymore about Elsa's actions, or about her last comment, but she needed a moment to get her head on straight again._

 _She didn't want to repeat past mistakes by not taking a step back when they were having a disagreement._

* * *

 _Elsa's shoulders slumped as her newly-returned lover all but stalked out of the room. She knew Kaya well enough that she was sure the other woman wouldn't be upset forever, but that didn't mean it wasn't still disconcerting for the Queen of Arendelle to see her lover unsettled..._

" _My, my." Her aunt's soft, melodic voice filled the air as the dowager Princess rounded the corner. "You'd think she was your lover, the way she was carrying on."_

 _The younger blonde sighed as Ingrid approached. Her aunt had been joking, of course (it was never anyone's first thought that a woman would be romantically involved with another woman), but it still stung to think that her newest family member might not be accepting of her love for Kaya._

 _Ingrid's brow furrowed concernedly as she studied Elsa. "My dear, I only just accidentally overheard the last half of the conversation...I didn't upset you, did I?"_

" _No!" Elsa quickly denied. "I just..." She took a breath to fortify herself. "Aunt Ingrid...I'm- uhm- I'm in love with her...with Captain Kaya."_

 _The older woman didn't respond for a moment; that kind of declaration was nothing to joke about. People had been driven out of their homes and kingdoms for less._

" _Oh, dear." Ingrid looked positively sympathetic as she placed a comforting hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Does_ _ **she**_ _know that?"_

 _Elsa wanted to slap herself in the forehead._

" _ **Yes**_ _, she knows, and she's my lover." She didn't want to be overly defensive, but she was wary of the reaction (or lack thereof) her aunt would give to the news. "I love her, Aunt Ingrid."_

 _Ingrid's eyebrows lifted, but all she gave as a response, smiling softly, was,_

" _Then I look forward to meeting her face-to-face."_

* * *

" _Kaya, I-"_

 _Her captain held up a hand to forestall any and all backtracking of the queen's last statement. It had been about a half hour since she and Kaya had parted in the drawing room...Elsa simply hadn't been able to wait a moment longer before seeking out her lover._

" _I know you didn't mean it that way..." She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Kaya didn't want to fight with Elsa, and especially not now that they were finally together after a fortnight that had felt like forever without Elsa by her side. "Come here."_

 _Elsa frowned guiltily as she obeyed, coming easily within arms' reach of her lover, who immediately took her into her arms, pulling her close. The queen breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms tightly around her taller lover. Kaya squeezed the queen around the shoulders, feeling Elsa's sigh._

 _Kaya gave a contented hum for the fact that Elsa was back in her arms. Whatever reckless behavior Elsa had demonstrated in Kaya's absence, it was all water under the bridge. She supposed she should just count her blessings that at least both Elsa and her sister were safe, Arendelle wasn't facing any immediate crises, and life was back to normal._

 _She inwardly shrugged. At least, until the next issue came up._

 _Speaking of which..._

" _Kaya?"_

" _Hm?"_

" _There's- uhm..." It wasn't like Elsa to hesitate with her comments._

 _ **Great. Now what?**_

" _What?"_

" _Something else..."_

 _Kaya could see Elsa was excited about something, but at the same time, she seemed apprehensive about how her lover would react...Which certainly didn't bode well at all._

" _ **What?**_ "

" _The urn wasn't_ _ **all**_ _Kristoff and I returned with..."_

 _Kaya narrowed her eyes._

* * *

" _Captain," Elsa began. "May I present Princess Ingrid. My aunt."_

" _Princess Ingrid." Kaya spoke calmly and professionally as she waited for the older woman to offer her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."_

 _Ingrid smiled enigmatically as she placed her hand in Kaya's without hesitation._

" _Likewise." Her voice was soft, melodious, and she gave a welcoming smile._

 _Kaya politely lowered her gaze as she placed a platonic kiss on the back of the woman's hand, per protocol. As was proper, there was no passion nor ulterior intentions were displayed in the gesture that was required of the highest-ranking officer of the Queen's personal guard._

" _Elsa has told me so much about you." Ingrid said. Kaya wasn't sure what the woman was getting at, but she couldn't help her slightly snarky reply._

" _Funny, she hasn't told me a thing about you."_

 _Elsa didn't even have the decency to_ _ **look**_ _embarrassed._

 _She beamed. "I wanted to surprise you!"_

 _Kaya hated surprises. She held back a sigh at her lover's exuberance. Kaya wanted to be angry, or at the very least irritated, with this new turn of events, especially considering the danger Elsa had purposely put herself in to get here. But seeing the excitement that colored her queen's face made her change her mind. At least a little._

 _A skeptic at heart, Kaya couldn't be sure what Ingrid's true motives might be after suddenly appearing out of thin air. But if what Elsa said was true, the woman opposite her had spent the last twenty-plus years in an enchanted prison...At the very least the woman should have an aura of bitterness around her._

 _But Kaya trusted first impressions almost explicitly. Over the years, considering her father's position of power and the mind games he'd loved to play with his daughter, Kaya had learned early how to read people's intentions, sometimes predicting what they desired before_ _they_ _even realized it themselves._

 _Ingrid, by all accounts,_ _should_ _be hurt or angry or at least bitter towards her imprisonment, but no matter how hard Kaya searched, she couldn't find anything more than an overwhelming sense of melancholy and loneliness, rather than fury. The woman was inexplicably forlorn in her demeanor. Not unhappy, per se (though Kaya sensed there had been a fair bit of that emotion in Ingrid's past, considering the power of her magic), but seemingly resigned to the way that she expected people to treat her._

 _The older blonde carried herself well, had the bearing of the one who would have become queen if she hadn't been imprisoned. Her chin never lowered in supplication, but Kaya had a feeling the outward show of confidence was meant to mask deep-rooted insecurities that more than a handful of years of (possibly self-induced) isolation couldn't do away with._

 _If Kaya was right, then she already knew the gist of Ingrid's story. She'd be lying if she said she weren't curious about the circumstances that explained how Ingrid ended up in that urn, but she knew it wasn't her place to ask._

 _Besides, friendly and cordial as she could see Ingrid put in a great deal of effort to appear, outspoken about her true emotions was not a trait Kaya could see the beautiful woman before her displaying._

 _Now didn't that sound reminiscent of another certain blonde she knew?_

" _Thank you, Captain, for always taking such good care of Elsa." Ingrid said, in that demure tone of her's. "I hope I can count on you with any questions I might come up with, regarding how things have changed around here."_

" _Of course, Princess Ingrid." Kaya nodded seriously, closing her eyes as she gave a small bow. "I am at your disposal, please do not hesitate to ask if there's anything you need."_

 _Ingrid gave a genuine smile."I see Elsa has chosen well." Her eyes took on a subtly icy glint. "She is very precious. Special."_

 _Elsa watched, picking up on the slightly accusatory tone in her aunt's voice, as if she were testing Kaya to see what kind of reaction she would get._

 _Kaya's response was simple and unadorned as she calmly stared down Elsa's aunt, unfazed by the (to Elsa) obvious challenge._

" _Yes," Kaya couldn't suppress her smirk. "That she is."_

 _Elsa couldn't help the swell of pride and love that blossomed in her chest at her lover's handling of the situation. It was that calmness and self-assuredness that made Kaya her anchor in the worst of situations. She could give away everything and nothing at all with her mastery of words._

 _Kaya might have been upset at her for putting herself even slightly at risk in exchange for answers regarding if she and Kaya were the only ones of their kind out there, with magic, but regardless, Elsa had no regrets. She had taken a chance, true, but what she had gained far outweighed the risk she'd taken. She'd found another of her family, her blood. Ingrid could be another mentor for her, this time specifically for ice magic, which Kaya could only help her with so much, due to the vastly different natures of their opposing elements._

 _Despite everything that had happened, maybe, just maybe, Elsa could finally get what she had been unwittingly longing for all these years._

 _Someone in her family just like her._

* * *

" _Give it back, Kevin,_ " The older blonde called from the screen. " _The camera is Emma's, not your's._ "

"Emma, that's you..." Snow whispered in awe. "You must be-"

"Thirteen, maybe fourteen." Emma confirmed, noticeably creeped out by this turn in events.

"Are you missing the part where she's with the Snow Queen?" Regina sniped from over Snow's shoulder. "Emma, you knew her before you came to Storybrooke?"

The whole situation was decidedly strange. Emma insisted that any trace of memory regarding the Snow Queen was wiped out, though it was obvious the two had a history. They all agreed the woman hadn't been in this world to begin with, the question was how she got to the 'Land Without Magic' in the first place, with Gold stating considering the amount of time he spent on the same task, he'd love to know. The group, consisting of Hook, Emma, Snow, Regina, David, Gold and Henry all set out in a last-ditch effort to find the Snow Queen, whose real name they didn't even know yet, only that it wasn't Sarah Fisher. Belle and Elsa went to the library in hopes of digging something up on the Snow Queen or, in Elsa's case, anything that could reveal Anna's current location.

* * *

 _Kaya leaned against the doorway leading into Elsa's study, smirking as she watched her lover twirl a magical snowflake in her palm, over and over, as a part of her new training regimen with Ingrid. She had to admit, it was nice to see Elsa so happy to have found someone with magic more similar to her own, rather than its polar opposite. It was certainly understandable that Ingrid would more easily be able to help Elsa control her icy magic than Kaya could with her own._

 _Besides, Kaya couldn't deny that the little crease that formed between Elsa's brows as she concentrated was simply adorable._

 _A presence appeared over her shoulder, and a passing, friendly touch followed, signaling Anna's physical arrival into the room. She breezed by with a brief 'hello' as she approached her sister._

 _Kaya watched as the pair embraced, anticipating Elsa's relief at finally having her sister back. Anna, Kaya knew, was not going to be telling Elsa all that they'd learned in the Enchanted Forest, and she couldn't say she blamed her. Their parents were dead, and the box they would have used to destroy Elsa's magic, and Elsa herself along with it, was now safely in Arendelle, so there was nothing more to be done._

 _The fire-user couldn't see the point in upsetting her queen for such a pointless reason. The past was over and done with; no sense in making Elsa relive it in such a horrible way._

" _Captain." Loren called from the hallway, Ingrid close behind. He saluted and handed her a folded piece of parchment as Ingrid passed them both to enter the room. "A message addressed to you."_

 _She thanked him, opened the letter, and immediately scanned to the bottom, seeking the sender's identity. Finding what she was looking for, Kaya took one last look into the study, seeing the beginnings of Ingrid's introduction to Anna. Anna seemed skeptical at first, but Kaya didn't feel as if there was anything to fear from Ingrid at this moment._

 _Kaya would need to speak with Elsa later, but for now, it could wait._

* * *

 _It turned out that Catherine, Kaya's stepsister, had anticipated her message reaching Kaya much earlier than it actually did. The letter had arrived while she had been escorting Anna on her journey to the Enchanted Forest, and thus, delayed Kaya's reaction to the news that Catherine had found herself a husband and had invited her to bear witness to their marriage ceremony._

 _Seeing the date in the message had sent Kaya into a state of hurried urgency, a reaction that very few could pry from her. Catherine was not her sibling by blood, but their bond rivaled that of her lover and her blood-related sister easily. Needless to say, when Catherine called, Kaya answered._

 _The preparations to make were few, as Loren had already had a handle on managing the castle's affairs while she was away, and she made time for a short farewell to Elsa before she departed, intending to visit a trading post for last-minute supplies for her trip._

" _When will you return?" Kaya knew Elsa was disappointed she had to leave again so soon, but with the current circumstances, there was no time to waste. It would take her a few days to reach Palladon again (even she couldn't fly halfway around the world in one day), and she didn't want to arrive at the last minute. She was already going to be cutting it close as it was._

" _It should only be a few days." Kaya reassured her. "I'll fly there, stay for the ceremony and be back in less than a week." She smirked at her beloved. "You can survive without me for that long, can't you?"_

 _Elsa rolled her eyes and laughed. "What if I don't want to?"_

 _Kaya returned the smile and pulled Elsa into her arms, leaning her forehead against her lover's._

" _I'll miss you." Elsa sighed._

 _Kaya's heart melted. She gave her queen a chaste kiss on her forehead before pulling away. "And I, you."_

 _Elsa didn't cry, but squeezed her once more, kissed her captain good-bye, and watched as her lover walked calmly away._

 _As Kaya strode towards the gates, she couldn't explain why, but the moment felt somehow foreboding, as if this was the last time she would see her beloved for a long time._

 _She shook off the feeling and took to the skies, already forgetting to wonder what was giving her such an uneasy feeling._

* * *

" _I'm telling you, that woman is up to something."_

 _Kristoff rolled his eyes as he half-heartedly listened to his fiance. This wouldn't have been the first time she'd put the cart before the horse with her outlandish ideas. Her latest trip was the most recent testament to that fact._

" _What, you mean your aunt?" He asked while feeding Sven. "What makes you say that?"_

"' _Cause it's weird...Strange, her being here!" Anna insisted. She was hard-pressed to make her point while trying to avoid Sven's antlers as he ate, but she tried anyway. "And because, I'm a good judge of character!"_

 _Kristoff scoffed. "Says the girl to agreed to marry Hans ten minutes after your started talking to him."_

" _I was young and naive."_

 _Kristoff's eyebrow rose. "You met me the next day."_

" _Young-er."_

 _Kristoff rolled his eyes again._

" _Anyway, I just want to make sure we're asking all the right questions."_

" _Like what?"_

" _Like, is she really even my aunt?" She said, waving her arms as she rounded the stable. "Or is she just some imposter trying to worm her way into our family?"_

" _Anna, look at her." Kristoff sighed. "You can't see the resemblance?"_

 _The look Anna shot him made it clear that she could, in fact, see it._

 _He turned and tended to the kettle of tea he was making. "Oh, yes, the ice-power thing, there's that!"_

 _Anna sighed at his sarcasm. "Maybe, but if she really is my aunt, why isn't she in the family portraits? The royal records? There's no trace of her, it's like she never even existed...There_ _has_ _to be an explanation for all this."_

" _Yeah? And how do you think you're going to find it?" Kristoff handed her a cup of tea._

 _Anna winced, saying, "Your family."_

" _Careful." Kristoff chided. "Grand Pabbie's still a little miffed that you postponed the wedding."_

" _I can handle Grand Pabbie." She laughed. "Will you go back to the castle and cover for me? Watch Elsa while I'm gone?"_

 _Kristoff braced his hands on her shoulders to reassure her. "If it will put your mind at ease, of course."_

" _Oh, but Kristoff you have to be careful what you say around her." She cringed and slowly started moving back towards Sven's pen again. "I may not have told her_ _exactly_ _what I discovered in the Enchanted Forest."_

" _You lied to her?" Kristoff accused, missing the way Anna sipped and then immediately comically spit out the tea back into the cup he'd made for her._

" _I didn't lie," She insisted. "Just- withheld the truth." Anna placed the cup down and turned. "Telling her our parents wanted to take away her magic..." She sighed. "I just have to find the right moment, that's all."_

 _Her fiance knew better than to try to argue with her. She knew he'd support her no matter what. Just as he was well aware that the fiery red-headed princess was quite likely too much for him, but found he didn't care. It was her spirit that had drawn him to her in the first place._

 _Anna strode out of the barn after kissing him goodbye, never knowing her aunt stood right beyond the other wall, having heard the entire conversation._

* * *

"Are you okay?"

It simply broke Belle's heart to see Elsa so upset. She watched, amazed, as Elsa dispersed the little flurries of snow that had appeared as a result of her distress with a simple wave of her hand.

"This is pointless." Elsa sighed. "I don't know why I thought that I'd find anything about Anna in here."

"You know she's somewhere." Belle said. "You know she's alive. You heard her heartbeat through Bo Peep's staff. Right?"

"But if what the Snow Queen told me is true, and Anna is the one who put me in that urn," Elsa shrugged helplessly. "Then maybe she doesn't want me to find her."

"That's not true, Elsa."

"How would you know what my sister thinks?" The statement was not barbed, but simply matter-of-fact. "You've never even met her."

The blonde had no idea, but Belle had, in fact met Anna. And, though Belle herself didn't realize it, she had also met the lover of the Ice Queen sitting across from her.

Belle was sure something had happened that was beyond Elsa's control that things had turned out the way they had. She could already see Elsa losing any hope of ever seeing her sister again.

She just hoped the group out searching the woods found something that would help soon. The last thing she wanted to see her friend's sister fall into despair.

That day, back when she'd been desperate to find out what had happened to her mother, seemed so long ago...

* * *

 _On the outskirts of Arendelle..._

 _Kaya flew east, knowing that if she kept at this speed for another few hours, she would be ahead of schedule enough to rest briefly for the night._

 _As quickly as the thought had crossed her mind, she discarded it when she heard a shriek coming from the trees below._

 _She rolled her eyes._

 _Why did it always have to be her?_

 _Without another thought, she folded her wings inward to dive steeply towards the ground, banking sharply back to where she'd heard the scream. Once she was close, she dipped below the trees and scanned the ground, catching sight of a young brunette in white that was surrounded by what appeared to be wolves. All the girl held in front of her was a pick axe, probably hastily grabbed in a last desperate attempt to save herself._

 _ **The girl's got spirit, I'll give her that.**_

 _Belle's eyes widened as she took in the fangs of the pack of beasts that surrounded her, refusing to wait for death, even though she couldn't see how she was going to avoid it._

 _She blinked, and in that instant, when she opened her eyes again, a brilliant orange light had enveloped her, emanating from a figure that knelt a few feet in front of her, where they'd landed between her and the wolves. Huge, graceful honey-colored wings shifted on the back of her defender as they stood slowly, bright feathers rippling gorgeously. Belle didn't think she'd seen anything so beautiful in her life._

 _So mesmerized by the hypnotic movements of the feathers, Belle almost missed the wolves running away in what appeared to be terror. How had the stranger fought them off without lifting a finger?_

" _Ah-" Belle stepped carefully forward. "Thank you, I-"_

 _The stranger turned, their hood falling back to reveal a woman. As magnificent as the sight of her wings were, there was no denying their owner was just as captivating. Silky black hair was tied back, tendrils falling to frame a picturesque face that held eyes that were as golden and unusual as the wings that still fluttered softly behind her._

" _You're welcome." The stranger didn't smile, but broke eye contact to scan the area. "Are you headed anywhere in particular?"_

* * *

The kind, if stoic, stranger had then proceeded to escort Belle to the nearest trading post. The woman wasn't much of a talker, that was for sure. It'd taken some effort to even pry a name out of her. 'Kaya' seemed in a hurry, though, so Belle had been unceremoniously dropped off at Oaken's, where she hoped she'd be able to find a map that would be able to better guide her in her search for the rock trolls. Belle would've asked Kaya for directions, but she seemed to be in such a rush that she'd never had a chance.

At Oaken's, she'd run into Anna, who had such a sweet and friendly personality, helping immensely by offering to take her to the rock trolls (apparently Anna had been headed there herself). That day they'd gotten to know each other, and Belle had, quite seamlessly, gotten what she needed from the rock trolls (a way to restore her lost memories of what had happened the day her mother perished). Anna had spoken with "Grand Pabbie" for a moment, and then she seemed to be in a rush when she finished her conversation. She and Anna hadn't gotten far from the rock trolls' valley when a storm suddenly appeared, thrashing the girls against the cliff face they were on. Anna had fell and then a strange woman, a blonde dressed all in white, appeared and vanished with Anna in a plume of white smoke, saying something about it being 'family business'.

Belle hadn't known the woman in question had been the Snow Queen, but now that she did, she felt worse than ever. She had never completely gotten over the guilt she felt from not being able to help Anna when she had the chance.

She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

* * *

" _Anna." Ingrid's voice could've almost been described as a growl. "Time to wake up, dear."_

 _Anna stirred from where she lay on the prison cot. "W-what happened?" She looked around and gasped. "Where am I?"_

" _Exactly where you belong." Ingrid said unrepentantly._

 _The younger princess shot up from where she sat and threw herself against the cell bars._

" _You can't just lock me in here!" She shouted. "Elsa won't stand for it!"_

" _Even when she finds out what you were planning to do to her?"_

" _Wait- what?"_

" _You were planning to use this," Ingrid gestured to the magical box she held in her hands. "To strip away her magic."_

 _Anna rushed to explain. "No! That's not why I had it."_

" _Really?" Ingrid accused. "Then why didn't you tell Elsa about it?"_

 _The redhead dropped her head in shame. "Because I- I didn't know how to tell her the truth. I found it with a man that my parents sought out. They had gone looking for a way to strip Elsa of the thing that makes her special."_

" _And you're following in their footsteps."_

" _I wasn't going to use it on her. I wasn't going to use it on anybody!"_

 _Both Ingrid's eyebrows lifted in disbelief._

" _Until you attacked me." Anna spat out. "The rock trolls told me what you've been hiding; that you and my mother had a third sister."_

 _The older woman's eyes narrowed. "The rock trolls shouldn't talk about things they don't understand."_

" _But it's true..." Anna murmured. "What happened to her?"_

 _In a dead, haunted tone, Ingrid mumbled, "Some secrets are better left buried."_

 _Anna couldn't understand. What did Ingrid want?_

" _What I have always wanted." Ingrid stepped slowly forward, towards Anna's cell. "A family. That will embrace me for who I am." She glared into Anna's eyes as she ground out, "For a brief moment, I thought we could be that family: you, me and Elsa. But you showed me that plan would never work."_

 _The young princess couldn't help the tears that built behind her eyes at Ingrid's admission._

" _You have nothing in common with Elsa and me." Ingrid snarled. "You are the odd woman out." The would-be queen sighed. "Now I suppose I have to find someone else to take your place."_

* * *

"The Snow Queen's your _aunt?_ " Emma asked, baffled.

"According to this heraldry book I found in the library." Elsa pointed to the open book laid out on the table before them. "Her name is Ingrid. I didn't even know that my mother had any sisters, I'm as surprised as you are."

"Spend enough time in this town, love, you'll find just about everyone's related." Hook quipped, a verbal version of rolling his eyes.

Emma smirked at the joke as Elsa continued. "This book traces the lineage in Arendelle back for generations. This is Gerda, my mother." She pointed to a brunette at the bottom right of the page. She then moved her finger to point to a portrait above her mother's. "And this is Helga, my other aunt."

The detective tilted her head, absorbing the information.

"Bloody hell," Hook cursed. "Look at this one," He pointed at Helga. "She looks just like you."

Emma looked and her stomach dropped. _God, he's right_.

"Maybe that's why she was so obsessed with you." He went on. "Why she kept all those relics from your childhood."

Elsa picked up a scroll that Emma and Hook had found that day in the woods while looking for the Snow Queen. "She was looking for the Savior."

Hook and Emma voiced their confusion at the same time.

"This scroll is runic, it's a prophecy. It says: " _The name of the Savior...is Emma"._ "

"She knew?"

"Before you even did, she knew you were powerful."

"But why?"

"It says it right here: " _And the Savior shall become Ingrid's sister"._ "

"What the hell does that even mean?"

Elsa gave a half shrug. "Well, my mother died, and her other sister, she's not around anymore." She paused. "I think...Ingrid believes in this prophecy. I think she's looking to replace them."

The trio heard footsteps in the hallway as they processed this new revelation, and Belle entered the room. She went directly to Elsa.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, but-"

"What?" Elsa asked, concerned for the girl.

"I've been keeping a secret. I know your sister Anna." She rushed to get the rest out as Elsa sighed in relief at the news. "She helped me once, but when I had a chance to help her, I let her down. And because I did, she was captured by the Snow Queen."

Elsa's smile quickly vanished. "What? Where did this happen? _When?_ "

"Arendelle, a long, long time ago, and I have no idea where she is now." Belle looked ashamedly at Elsa. "But I'm afraid we have a more pressing concern."

She looked at Hook and Emma, relating how she had gone looking for the Snow Queen and hadn't found the woman herself, but had found a mirror in her lair that Rumple said was part of a spell called the Spell of Shattered Sight.

"Bloody hell..." Hook said. "The whole town would destroy itself."

Belle nodded in agreement. "And there'd be no one left."

Emma closed her eyes as it dawned on her. "Except us." She said, nodding to Elsa.

Elsa didn't need her to elaborate.

"She wants it to be just the three of us."

"Her perfect family." Emma breathed in horror.

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, Henry Mills had been tidying Mr. Gold's shop as a part of his apprenticeship. He was undercover, he thought, grinning at the prospect that he might be able to find something in his grandfather's shop that would help him give his adoptive mother, Regina, a chance at her happy ending.

While that was the real reason he was here, he did try to do his due diligence and actually clean the shop as he was asked to. Currently leaning up to clean one of the top shelves, Henry never noticed two of the bottles on the far edge of said shelf tipping until he heard the crash of shattering glass on the floor at his feet.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed in surprise.

The bottles were broken beyond repair, and he hadn't been able to read the labels Rumplestiltskin had put on the bottles...who knew what substances had been contained in there?

Already the scent of old leather and charcoal began to permeate the air, evolving to the stench of smoke in a matter of seconds.

A black fog rose from the floor, enveloping the boy before he ever even had a chance to grab a mop to clean the mess he'd made.

As if a draft had entered the main room of Mr. Gold's shop, the smoke vanished.

The boy was gone.

* * *

 _ **Alrighty guys! Hoped you enjoyed this LONG LONG overdue addition to the story. Please review, as it is a good way to kick my sorry butt into gear (props to**_ _ **Dylangodwin123 for calling me out on my shit- respect.**_ _ **) =D**_

 _ **Hopefully the next update won't take a year to crank out, now that I actually have a clear direction to go with!**_

 _ **~White Jem**_


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